Pokemon Black and White: Excelsior!
by Trainer Naps
Summary: Finally taking his life into his own hands, the dry-humored William Grey sets of in hopes of becoming Champion of the Unova League. Or at least that's what he's convinced is what he wants. But when dealing with an unruly Oshawott, an arrogant connaiseusse, and a criminal syndicate meddling with forces they cannot comprehend, it's possible that things may become a bit confusing.
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

**The Liberation Incident. Many scholars nowadays claim that the titular naming of the event that changed our world in so many ways forevermore is a gross usage of an overly expressive title. A mistake, even. I believe that the only mistake that was made, besides the war itself, is not giving it a more potent name. Which I would do in a heartbeat had the honor been mine. But the honor rested on the shoulders of one young man; it perhaps was because of him and the help of others that we thankfully may look back on this and not what could have been The Liberation Catastrophe. Which it nearly was. But this young man changed that. He waged a one-man-war on something so much bigger than even the organization that he faced. For he fought not an army, but an idea. Team Plasma was more than a physical entity. It is and was something you could not see nor touch, much less vanquish. And thus it could not be cast down with strength or courage or anything of the sort. And not one of these qualities with which he won the day. Whether or not he needed them at all is up for debate, but is irrelevant in the whole. This Trainer was victorious only because he was true. Like a light in the mist he cut through the lies and idealistic fog that was Team Plasma and revealed the beast that hid within. I only _wish_ that I could provide a completely unbiased and one hundred percent account of his life. I am a scholar and sworn to the sanctity of fact; I've found in the past that my words can hold much wait in many spectrums be they literature or even politics. But I'm afraid that even in this, _especially _in this, I cannot be as true as he. In that case, let me begin by saying that I find this tale I recount to be one of the greatest ever recorded. **

**-Excerpt from _The Hero of Unova, _a biography by Lucina Hale-Grey**

* * *

In merciless droves, the pouring rain crashed down onto the dormant Viridian City household. Dark. Heavy. Unrelenting. Just as it had that morning and through to the afternoon, and eventually the evening.

The house's inhabitants had all but grown used to the rhythmic pattern of thick precipitation over the course of that day, and had since become rather accustomed to its presence. It could even be said that the presence of the sky bearing down on their house comforted them and lulled them into an easy sleep when they laid their heads down to sleep that night. Thus, it was not the rain that called one member of the Grey family to a rough and rude awakening.

Cassius Grey, patriarch of the household, sat like a heavy stone statue at his kitchen table, with nothing more than the light of a lamp resting upon a nearby countertop to provide him with the luminance his addled eyes needed to see the papers spread before him. The sheer amount of documents spread before him might have made a passerby assume he was extremely busy at the moment, had he been at work. But despite the urgency his surroundings seemed to install upon him, Cassius was paying marginally more attention to the cup of coffee at the corner of his placemat.

Resting within a yellow mug faded with age, his milky brown drink had long since ceased emitting the wispy strands of steam signifying it being piping hot, the way he liked it. The coffee was now cold and losing its sweetness. And so with hands folded, Cassius remained staring at the mug in his perpetual state of unmoving.

He simply could not make up his mind.

Rubbing his pale forehead with the tips of his fingers, Cassius gripped with his other hand a jet-black ballpoint pen and tapped the tip thoughtfully on one of the papers. Resting next to an empty and unused envelope, every blank point on the letter had been filled in with the neat and nondescript handwriting of Cassius Grey, filling in all information that the form decreed necessary for completion.

The line that Cassius pondered so feverously was that on which a signature would go. All that remained was his name.

Cassius stroked his prickling greying goatee once with no thoughtful intent. For a man in his mid-forties, a small peppering of steely grey and white in his hair was not unusual. But Cassius himself found the strains of life nowadays more than most men could handle, adding the occasional white speck to his hair. Of course he had persevered, but the choices he was being brought, no, _told _to make were beginning to eat away at him.

Just as the empty line did. It mocked him with just its emptiness. Goaded him into thinking that with his signature, the paper would be filled and so would the empty feeling within him. Cassius shook his head and cleared away the contradicting thoughts.

Then he stole himself and lifted his shoulders, preparing to sign the letter.

"Dad, why are you up?"

Cassius' head did not jerk in surprise like most would at the sudden sounding of the smooth yet tender young voice. Instead he turned slowly and in a fatherly manner, his movements telling his only son that he was busy before the words left his mouth.

Standing in the dim light of the kitchen lamp was William, his ten-year-old son. His fair brown hair was slightly tousled from rubbing against a pillow, attributed to uneasy sleep, Cassius guessed. The slender frown on his face may have also tipped him off of this, though Cassius knew from years of parenting the young child that curiosity was the first of William's prior convictions, even before joy or happiness. Even in his tender age, William required a reason to smile before he actually would.

"I'm very busy, son," lied Cassius, his face betraying no falsehoods that would evade someone much wiser than a ten-year-old, "Why don't you go back to bed?"

Will hugged his Pokémon closer to his chest. The amorphous green blob seemed asleep within its gel-like shell, undisturbed by its unofficial Trainer's late night upping. It had been a gift from Cassius himself when Will was only four years old and had proved a constant and unyielding companion to him for their entire relationship. To Cassius' knowledge in fact, it was Will's only friend.

"I got up to get a drink," said Will, "I woke up and my mouth was dry."

Cassius nodded. "You know where the glasses are. Get a drink from the faucet and then off to bed with you."

Nodding, William retreated slowly to the low hanging cupboard next to the kitchen sink. While slinking away he seemed to eye down Cassius' papers skeptically. His electric blue eyes would not be satisfied with anything less than the knowledge they hungered for. They never did.

Cassius grossly underestimated his son's attention to detail when it came to these things; he normally did his paperwork in the morning while watching the local news on television, and Will knew this. He was far more attentive than one would guess from his normally spirited demeanor.

Cassius' suspicions of his son's uncertainties were all but confirmed as Will took his time downing the glass of water, which he had only filled to half capacity in the first place. With his Pokémon tucked under one arm like a basketball, Will constantly sent skeptical glances at the papers placed before Cassius as he tried to figure up what was so important as to keep his father up that late. Will was curious, but he was anything but subtle in this regard.

Will finished his glass of water and placed it upside-down in the sink to be washed the next morning. He hesitated for a moment trying to think of another excuse to linger but a knowing and stern glare from Cassius reminded him that he should be on his way.

"Goodnight, Dad," said Will, heading down the hallway towards his room, "I'll see you in the morning."

Cassius acknowledged him with a nod and almost responded directly to Will's hopeful statement. Though the way he had phrased it almost made it sound like a question.

Either way, Cassius felt it best not to lie to the boy.

Without any further tension of mind or muscle, Cassius set his pen down on the dotted line and signed his name.

…

Little did Will or Cassius or anyone of the prior party know that hallway around the world, rain poured down as another young boy's relationship with his father was changed forevermore. Only this unfortunate youth was being treated to the polar opposite.

It was no surprise to him, the presence that crept through the forest. His friends had told him it was coming hours earlier. It was the thing that his friends called a "human."

Even without warning from any of his friends, the boy could have easily detected the human on his own, albeit long after his friends would have. Humans made horrible crashing and crunching noises when they moved their feet, especially when they were walking through the forest. Humans knocked aside branches and stepped on twigs with their heavy feet and their leather boots without even an outward thought that one of the forest Pokémon might be using the branch they snapped or the mushroom they stepped on for bedding or for food. According to his friends, humans only cared about themselves.

Except he had been told that this human had been coming for him.

And so the boy found himself huddled up under the mossy log deep within the forest, his back leaned up against the moist river bank in which the log, which had once been a mighty tree, had toppled after intense rainfall had cleared away the soil beneath its roots and gravity took care of the rest.

This was where the boy slept on nights when the weather was unpleasant like tonight. On warm nights when the stars shone bright in the sky and the wind whistled through the trees, he would lie out in the open and fall asleep with his friends by his side as they gazed up at the spectacular ceiling of the night sky.

But those nights were about to come to an end for a very long time.

The squishing sound of a heavy foot sinking into the mud alerted him to a very close by presence. A very close by _human _presence. No foot or paw or talon he knew of from this forest made that sound.

His bare heels dug into the soggy soil as he pulled his legs tight to his body, his chin resting in between his knees. Normally, he was never afraid of humans visiting the forest. He'd hide and watch from a safe distance when the humans came. No human had ever discovered his hiding spot. And in the event that he was discovered (which had never happened before) he'd always have his friends to protect him.

But at this moment, he was the protector. His three best friends sat cuddled up with him under the log, and he was their best hope to protect against the human, had he come to do bad things.

The boy knew that humans loved and cared for the Pokémon that lived in their cities and towns. And those cities and towns had marvelous towers and buildings that the humans made. Sometimes when the boy sat high up enough in a tall tree in the forest, he could see what some of his friends told him that the humans called "skyscrapers." They were tall square towers, some with points on the top. And at night they twinkled and sparkled with so many different colors of light, as if the humans had adorned them with stars.

_Truly_, he would think, _if humans made such pretty things, how could they be bad?_

The only negative connotation of any human wrongdoing the boy had ever witnessed was with the round objects that flashed with light and made Pokémon disappear. Humans carried those through the woods with them frequently and used them on Pokémon, some of them his friends.

He knew not what happened to them or where they went, but the boy never saw any of them ever again.

No matter what they did though, the boy was not going to let his friends get taken. Darmanitan didn't like the rain so much so that it hurt him and so he was curled up in his dormant form, remaining motionless and stone solid. Woobat was curled up next to him with her wings folded and her stubby nose poking into his side. And Zorua rested on his lap, now squished against the boy's chest, her soft fur ticklinghis face and helping to keep him warm.

But no one was here to protect him this time. The boy would stand up for himself.

The boy heard another squish, this one much closer. He had a very acute sense of smell, rainfall only served to kick up a new pallet of smells to mask whatever crept towards him on heavy feet. Therefore, he could not tell that the human was right upon him.

A white hand with five fingers like his gripped the inside of the log and the boy gasped, surprised by the human's sudden appearance. Instead of moving the log off of the boy like he had expected, the human dropped down onto on knee and looked him in the eye.

Like his friends did. Like an equal.

The human removed the black rubber hood that protected his head from the rain and simply let it fall down onto his head as he smiled at the boy. His teeth were as white as pearls and his hair, now beginning to become slick from the rain, was the same tea green shade as his.

"Hello there," he said in a deep, powerful voice that made the boy shudder. The voice contained such force, like a living echo, yet was concentrated in such a manner that was soft, softer than Zorua's fur. He had seen many a time Pokémon listening to the humans telling them to do things and then doing them.

He now understood why humans were listened to. Their voices were their power.

"H-hi…" the boy nervously mumbled, using the greeting phrase he had heard humans using on each other before. Hiding his head in his legs so that his eyes barely peeked above his knees, he scooched as far back against the riverbank's wall as was permitted by the tight space, bringing Woobat and Zorua back with him, tightly in his grasp.

The human laughed lightly, another one of his perplexing noises. "I'm not going to hurt you or your friends."

"F-friends?"

The boy did not know a lot about the human language, but that was another word that he had heard from the humans before as well. The fact that humans knew what friends were, or just the fact that _this _one did, made him want to listen even more.

"Yes," affirmed the human, "Friends. I know they mean a lot to you. And I know that humans do a lot of nasty things to your friends. But I haven't come for them, little one. I'm not like the rest."

Many of the words were unfamiliar, but the gist of what the human was saying was coming across. The boy had a knack for figuring things out quickly, so it seemed. The puzzle cube tied around his neck, the source of which was unknown to him, did not take more than a few minutes on his first try at twisting its rotatable segments into matching positions.

But he knew that humans only came into the forest for two reasons: to pass into the city rested on the other side of the forest or to take Pokémon in their magic spheres. The only reason why a human would stray so far from the path was to participate in the latter.

The man must have noticed the boy's confusion, for he smiled again and rested his hands on his knee. "No, I'm not a Pokémon Trainer," promised the stranger, who then explained what the term meant. "They're the people who take your friends in those accursed red and white spheres. But that is not why I have come. I've come to take you with me."

Again, he was confused. The boy knew he was not a Pokémon; his life in the forest had made that strikingly obvious. But he wasn't human either. He looked like them, yes, but humans couldn't do the things he could do. His friends said he was different and he knew he was different.

So if the human didn't want to put him in a magic sphere, what did he want?

Thinking over the structure of the human's sentence and analyzed it, selecting a phrase that had conjunctively linked his thoughts together and used it for questioning purposes. "W-why?" he stammered, the new feeling of human words making his tongue tingle.

"You're a curious little fellow, aren't you?" chortled the human. "You've lived so long in this forest that you might have your reservations at first, but I'm glad you've gone through what you have. It will help prepare you for the future."

He didn't have to guess this time to know that the human would assess the confusion on his face. Slowly, the human moved one of his big hands towards the boy. Not fast like a strike and not slow like a trick. This gesture meant something to the human.

"I want you to come with me," he repeated, his hand remaining, "I'm your father, you see. I've been looking for you for a very long time."

The foreign hand and the foreign words made little sense to the boy. He understood what the human said but had trouble grasping what the words and the hand meant. Both where important, he knew. And so he slowly reached out a hand to meet the human's.

Pleased, the human smiled. "That's it. Take my hand, son. We're going to do great things together."

His hand seemed magnetically attracted to the humans. _Great things…_

"Great things," the boy repeated, "Like skyscrapers?"

The human grinned. But this grin was different from his honest and happy expressions prior. This one had a layer to it. It was covering something up and the boy didn't like it.

"Yes. Yes, my son, you and I are going to be like skyscrapers. With the two of us combined, we can move ever upward. We can pierce the heavens."

And so, because of one signature and one handshake, the world would change forever.

* * *

**Hey hey, everyone! It's Trainer Naps here with another Pokemon fanfic, starring my main Pokemon OC, William Grey, along with a new host of Pokemon and a mix of characters old and new. Before moving on to anything else, let me just thank you for reading the chapter and I hope you enjoyed it!**

**I've always entertained the idea of writing a fic taking place in the Pokemon Black and White sphere, and now that I've finally gotten around to it, I hope ya'll enjoy! I've decided to update this only once a week on Friday so that I both ensure that I'm not overwhelmed and that you guys get a quality chapter. As such, the chapters will gradually get longer, but my policy is quality over quantity, so I can't promise 7k chapters every time around. Sound good? Hope it does :D**

**Just to clarify: this story is AU from any of my other stories. You may see OCs from my past fics make an appearance alongside new ones, but keep in mind that the stories remain separate. Just wanted to dispel any potential confusion. **

**The "excerpt" at the beginning of the chapter was an idea I got from a fic I read while back, which has since been deleted and I can't remember its name...so credit goes to whoever wrote that, not me. My favorite book of all time, _Dune__, _did something like that where excerpts from books written in the future would set the tone for current and future chapters and even got me a little excited for later parts in the book. So I thought I'd try it here. Thoughts?**

**So, tune in next week where we jump ahead five years and meet our dashing young hero, a certain William H. Grey. Review and fav if you liked what you read and you want to see more, and I'll see you next time!**


	2. Chapter 1: Nuvema, New Beginnings

_**Chapter 1: Nuvema, New Faces, New Beginnings!**_

**We might consider ourselves very lucky that Team Plasma's greatest threat to success was a young man from Viridian City, whose name no one knew. Had he been as strong and plentiful in resolve as the great Pokémon Trainer Red, or as celebrated and renowned as the Champion Blue, Team Plasma would have seen their target coming long before t posed any threat to them and cast it down. When two titans clash, one must inevitably topple. But when we are presented with a new David to fight the goliath? An ordinary figure of mundane origin? Well, that just likens the titan's chances of tripping and falling.**

**-Except from _The Hero of Unova, _a biography by Lucian Hale-Grey**

* * *

The weathered old minivan hit yet another bump as it shot steadily down the dirt road. The car's tires remained inflexibly spinning on the ground and the bump had not been substantial enough to offset any of the vehicle's passengers. The five year old girl resting in her car seat continued to sleep, the long trip from her hometown in Icirrus City having beaten her in the contest to remain awake for the duration. The hands of the middle aged woman driving the vehicle remained firmly on the ten and two o'clock positions of the steering wheel, an optimistic smile plastered to her face. And the skinny fifteen year old boy in the back seat maintained his gloomy stare out the window, staring aimlessly at the dark and foreboding trees flanking him and fencing him in as the car made its way down Route 1.

She knew that on a back road such as Route 1 that traffic would not be a problem, but Rosaline Grey could not help but send the customary flicker of the eyes up to her rearview mirror and notice her son's dejection. Her smile increasing in scale as to warm her son, she twisted the mirror so that she could have a better look at the boy while she drove.

"Getting tired of the car?" she asked probingly to her son.

For almost eight hours they had been driving without stop. Rosaline wouldn't blame her son for being a bit sore in that case, both physically and mentally. But she knew in her hear how that wasn't the true case.

"Nah, I'm fine," he replied blandly, not taking his eyes off of the blur of green that was the forest in motion. Normally a person fixated on nothing at all like he was would have a blank mind, but Rosaline could tell that the gears in his were busily turning from the way that his finger drew invisible circles upon the inside of the car door. Rosaline knew her son well and was quite aware of what troubled him.

"What troubled him" had arrived at their doorstep only four days ago in the form of a letter bearing a Sinnohan return address and the wax seal of the prestigious Eterna Academy. Four days ago, William had optimistically shred the letter open to find that his application to the academy had surprisingly and unfortunately been denied.

His lifelong dream of pursuing a higher education at the university would not be coming true.

This wasn't the first time that the Grey family had fallen on hard times with poor William taking the brunt of it all. He had been crushed by his father's sudden disappearance at only the age of ten, shocking him into a state of depression that kept him from the Pokémon journey he had planned on beginning soon at the time.

Rosaline knew that both events had stung him more than anything life had yet thrown into his young life, but she knew also that no matter how much Will would deny it, his father leaving them hurt the most. Will was very prideful in helping to contribute to his family's wellbeing and indignantly accused his father of abandoning them, but one would see a shiny Rayquaza before they saw Will admit that he had let Cassius hurt him.

But regardless of what hurt more though, Will needed a pick-me-up to get him out of his funk. The torture of seeing her son waste precious years of his youth wallowing in sorrow had almost been too much for her to bear. And she would be damned if she let it happen again.

Normally, there were small things that could perk Will up, if only for a time. He could never resist smiling at his little sister Cassandra when his mother put her up to cheering him, whether or not he had caught on to her schemes. And Cell, his only Pokémon and only friend, was always right by his side. The two had been through thick and thin and Will loved the Solosis like a brother.

But minor remedies would not work now. Will had just been denied the future he had always hoped for beyond the walls of Eterna Academy, having hoped to study and become a scientist like his mother.

And like his father.

But deep down, Rosaline knew too that the sciences weren't his true passion. After his father had left and once he was over the despair that traumatized his young mind, Will had struggled to perform with the subconscious need for approval from his sole parent. Rosaline knew though that his true passion lied with writing and the creative sciences, and that he was afraid that he would not be make her proud with a career as solid as one grounded in the sciences.

One of the many advantages of knowing who Will at the deepest and most intimate level of his person was that Rosaline knew what Will wanted in life. And that was whether or not he wanted to believe it. She got the feeling that her quick-witted son had caught on to the true intent of their little excursion earlier that day, but it mattered not. Rosaline had a plan that even Will's rock-solid stubbornness couldn't repel.

Noticing a landmark of interest up ahead, Rosaline's smile became something more of a smug grin. She eased her foot off of the gas and slowed into the turn, gravel crunching beneath her tires.

"We're here," she announced, deliberately slowing the car.

Will's curious side crashed through his mental walls like a swirling torrent; he couldn't help himself put peek out the window at the presence his mother had proclaimed. Standing tall to the right of side of the Greys' car was the cause of Rosaline's inner anticipation and what she hoped would soon become Will's.

Drifting slowly by Will's window was a redwood sign that read, "Welcome to Nuvema Town!"

…

A quant little village set sprawled across a rolling green hill, Nuvema Town could by no stretch of the imagination be considered a pride of south Unova, but doubtlessly embodied its homey heart.

It was a community where everyone knew your name. Where your friends became your family and your family became your friends. Nuvema Town boasted no eminent attractions or desirable resources or even abundant space. A few dozen houses, all modest yet charming in build, dotted the open grasses of Nuvema Town.

Will had never visited himself, but had heard stories and seen pictures of the town's spectacular metamorphosis in between all seasons. Summers were greener than the most verdant jade and the autumns were a radiant collage of fiery colors. Snow fell in fluffy white blankets during the winters here and blanketed the trees, twinkling brighter than any artificial light that could be thrown festively around them.

Right now, spring was on full display in Nuvema. Leaves were budding on the seasonal trees and speckling their crowned tops with green. Best and most beautiful of all, the cherry trees had opened up their pink embrace for all to marvel at. Even with the contempt that had gripped his heart the past few days, Will couldn't help but be calmed by the welcoming pallet of colors.

The young man of fifteen had kept the past few days to himself. And by that he meant _strictly _to himself. He had scarcely spoken to anyone and any responses that were necessary to give were short and uninformative quips such as a simple "Okay" or a mundane "Sure" here and there. They were the only indications that he was actually there at times.

Will didn't want to buden his already fraught mother and older sister with his troubles, and his younger sister was much too young to worry about such things. He confided some things to the company of Cell, who was always there for him, but much of his inner toil remained on the inside. He had been able to deal with his problems before and could surely do it again.

Since he had kept minimal contact with his mother, of course he did not know where they were headed. Though, call him crazy, but he had one of those funny feelings that his mother was going to try and pull something on him to try and snap him out of it.

It wasn't exactly a farfetched idea though; Rosaline Grey _always_ had a plan.

Either way, Will had to know. Curiosity was one of his deadliest flaws and eight hours of it was beginning to surmount into a mountainous itch for knowledge. Will sat up straight and looked into his mother's mirror to make contact with her eyes.

"So where are we going?" he asked finally, his curiosity essentially making him forget of his bad mood.

Will could not see, but Rosaline grinned. "Oh, finally awake?" she jested, trying again to tickle Will's sense of humor.

"Awake and looking to find out where we're going. _Sir._" Will made the effort to joke back and not remain wallowing in his self-pity for the sake of his mother. He respected her and her sacrifices too much to take even a conversation with her for granted.

"Glad to see you back in the land of the living," she chortled.

"So am I. I hope."

Of course, Will still had no idea where they were going. It could be for some sort of overbearing therapy to deal with his depression. That might explain why his little sister had to come along, for an intervention of sorts.

Will shook his head. He had been through therapy before and while it worked to a degree, he had hated every second of it. His mother wouldn't just spring that on him. She respected his privacy too much to do that.

Glancing out the window as Rosaline momentarily paused the conversation to make a turn, Will noticed a young blonde woman of about his older sister's age tending to a garden. She looked up from the rose bush that she was watering and gave a neighborly wave, smiling all the while.

Will managed a short wave of his own before their car moved far enough and she was out of sight.

_The people here are awfully friendly, _Will couldn't help but think.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll be delighted to see what's in store for you," continued Rosaline. She giggled suddenly, "And speaking of which, we're here." Her foot tapped the brakes and the old care let out a elongated wine as is halted its movement on the dirt road.

As he legs began to grow restless from the anticipation of their _unofficial_ arrival about ten minutes ago, Will gazed out the window of what stood before him. His eyebrows rose up high on his head in surprise and awe.

As previously mentioned, Will had never before been to Nuvema. Aside from the trees he knew none of the local sights or otherwise anything significant about the town. He did however, like any other young man or woman his age, recognized the building to his right.

_Everyone _in Unova was quite familiar with Juniper Labs, after all.

* * *

It wasn't an air of awe coming from Will as his eyes remained fixated on Juniper Labs. As he stepped out of the car and onto the freshly mowed lawn of the professor's property, Will couldn't help but be taken back to the untroubled days when he had visited Professor Oak's lab back in Pallet Town, when his mother or father would visit the old researcher on matters of business.

Of course, back then he had marveled at the very similar building's greatness in his childlike eyes. Anything larger than his house had seemed like a palace to him in those days. Perhaps it was nostalgia that made his heart flutter the way it did as he examined the building.

When he said it was very much like Oak's building, Will did not exaggerate. Juniper's building was much newer than Oak's and showed none of the wear or homeliness that Professor Oak's had merited from years of service. It retained the same rectangular frame like most labs manned by the other well-known Pokémon Professors across the regions did, even sporting the silo-like expansion that rose up higher than the rest of the building in the west wing. The red shingles on the roof served well to alleviate any shimmering glares that bounced off of the numerous solar panels lying flat on the rooftop.

Additionally, a shining silver windmill revolved lazily in the gentle spring breeze, planted firmly behind the lab itself. The solar panels and wind rotor working in synchronization with each other, operating the numerous computers and research devices around the clock doubtlessly converted watts into zeroes on Juniper's electricity bill. Alternative energy sources were certainly useful when running a lab where power was never without demand.

Hand on the edge of his car door, Will nearly slammed it shut before his mind began to thaw from its car trip hibernation and he remembered something important. Smiling at his own forgetfulness, Will turned back to the open vehicle.

"Cell, wake up. We're here."

A small bundle of blankets stirred in the seat between where Will had sat and where his sister still slept. At first glance one would surely mistake it for a pile of blankets and nothing more.

But up rose what truly rested inside, a drowsy looking amorphous blob of green goo. Otherwise known as Cell, William Grey's best and only friend.

Blankets slid off of his rounded form as he rose up from his sleep, eventually bumping against the roof of the car. However, the gelatinous shell that encased his body absorbed the shock and did little but jog him from his drowse. With lazy eyes, Cell floated cumbersomely to his Trainer waiting outside of the vehicle.

As mentioned previously, Cell was a Solosis, a Pokémon native to Unova but rare all the like. Its body was shaped like a globule of dough rounded at each end and then smooshed together. His mouth, a diamond shape with four lips that when closed resembled a crimson cross, centered his face. Two black ovular eyes flanked it. Atop its head was a single curled yellow horn. His entire body lie encased in a protective layer of green semipermeable liquids, serving to shield him against even the most harsh of weather conditions and environments.

The quad corners of Cell's mouth stretched to their maximum flexibility as he let out a squeaking yawn, his gelatinous shell quivering as his limbless body stretched.

"Solo so," said Cell, rising to the level of Will's head. _So, we're here already?_

"You've been out for a couple hours, pal," Will responded.

To dispel a very common myth about the two; they could not understand each other the level of, say, one human speaking to another or vice versa in the case of two Pokémon. Will and Cell had spent so much time in each other's company that Will had developed a rudimentary understanding of what Cell's words and motions would translate to in a human language. Solosis were said to possess the ability to read minds, yes, but this connection only went as far as Cell being able to read Will's emotion. The two could not telepathically communicate.

But some might argue that they could, in a way. Will and Cell were two halves of a hole. Neither of them did something or went somewhere without the other. Cell had been a constant companion to Will through all of his worst moments and it was things like that which sculpted a friendship that lasted a lifetime.

Cell hovered over Will's shoulder to get a peek at the lab. "Losis solos." _This building looks a lot like the one from Kanto._

"Yup. It belongs to a Professor just like the Pallet lab," confirmed Will, "I've heard that Professor Juniper even studied under Professor Oak for a while. No doubt his research habits and strategies have rubbed off on her. She's got the building architecture down to T." Hands on his hips, he further admired the building with Cell. "Heck, she even has the windmill."

"Losis…" Cell sighed, his head drifting to the ground. _Makes me miss Kanto…_

"Yeah, buddy," Will responded to Cell's longing, "Me too…"

When Will's father had abandoned them five years ago, his mother could no longer do her part in supporting the family with her usual at-home researching and private projects, especially with a newborn baby. Very soon after Cassius Grey had left, Rosaline, a botanist, had taken an offer from a Unovan corporation to study plants that thrived in colder climates. Rosaline moved the family to Icirrus City in northern Unova and that was that. Will had not returned to his birthplace of Kanto since then.

"William," his mother called from the around the van causing Will to look over his shoulder, "Could you help your sister out of her seat?"

"Sure thing, Mom." Will turned around and headed back to the car and around to the other side, Cell hovering just behind him. He pulled open the van's blue door, revealing the toddler situated behind it.

Rubbing her eyes with tiny balled-up fists, five-year-old Cassandra Grey (commonly known as Cassie) awakened. Her milky brown eyes stared up at her brother, who smiled back.

"Wake up, sleepy head," Will said softly. Cassie responded in kind by squeezing her eyes shut and twisting to the side, letting out a defiant and exhausted moan.

"Tired…" she growled, attempting to squirm into another sleeping position.

"Lo solo," Cell responded curtly. _You and me both, sister._

Will couldn't help but wryly chuckle at his sister's resistance. He reminded her so much of himself when he was that age. Back when he could afford to worry about things like sleep as much as he did and nothing else.

With or without her cooperation, Will unbuckled the safety harnesses of her car seat and gently grabbed his hands around her small waist. Tiredness had either convinced her to just play along or was taking over her functions all together, because her little arms rose up and latched onto Will's shoulder which allowed him to pull her up and out of the car.

Standing upright next to her brother, the ten year distance between the two could be easily discerned from rather far away. At his full height, Will stood at a good five feet and eleven inches, give or take a few on account that his last official measurement had been several months prior at his annual visit to the doctor. On tiptoes, Cassie would probably be able to reach just over half of that.

Cassie's hair was much fairer and longer than Will's, though her eyes were a chestnut brown in contrast to Will's brilliant blues. Similarities between brother and sister were not as glaring as they were between Will and his other sister, Jaclyn, but they were there and unmistakable at second glance.

Up front, Rosaline Grey had finished gathering her belongings within her large motherly purse and shut the door, turning to her two children and the former's Pokémon.

"Ready to go?" she asked, and Cassie came running over to her.

"Mommy, Mommy!" squealed Cassie, latching onto her mother's legs and staring up at her, "Are we gonna see lots of cute Pokémons here?"

Cell's eyes narrowed. "Solo so losis?" _What, I'm not good enough for you? _ Will only chuckled.

Rustling her daughter's hair, Rosaline responded with, "I'm sure we will, honey. But you need to be on your best behavior. Professor Juniper is an important colleague of mine. In a way even, she's my boss. She's a very, very nice lady but don't take that for granted. Don't touch anything unless she says you can, okay?"

"Okay, Mommy." Cassie's head bobbed obediently up and down.

"And you too," added Rosaline, fixing Will with a hard stare with a dash of humor mixed in.

"What!?" Will held his hands up defensively. "Why do _I _have to be reminded this?"

"You know…" Rosaline smirked and cocked and eyebrow.

"Tch…" Sweatdropping, Will recalled the incident eight years ago he had perpetrated between him and a hungry Snorlax he had encountered in Professor Oak's lab during a visit that his parents had allowed him to tag along on. "H-he was asking for it!"

"Solos," remarked Cell. _A likely story…_

William lightly tapped him, causing the spot of contact on Cell's liquid shell to ripple like disturbed water and Cell to roll sideways through the air.

"Quiet, you."

"So solos." _Just stating the facts…_

"Alright, that's enough out of you two," quipped Rosaline. After quickly sliding her glasses up the bridge of her nose, Rosaline clicked a red button on her car keys. The automobile chirped twice in response and locked itself. Grabbing her daughter's hand, Rosaline lead her around the car and to the winding path that lead up the small hill to Juniper's lab. Will and Cell followed closely behind.

Once at the top, Rosaline rang the doorbell. A grand _DING-DOOOONG _that sounded akin to the exaggerated notes played by a grandfather clock at the strike of a new hour. The Greys waited for but a few seconds until they heard voices from inside. They seemed to be bickering. Then, footsteps. As they seemed to grow closer to the door, the voices increased in volume.

_"I'm busy! Why should I have to do it!?"_ At the height of its frustrated screech, the voice reached a note that inclined Will to believe it belonged to a female.

_"Because I cleaned up Oshawott's last mess! And in case you hadn't noticed, I'm busy too!"_ This one was a bit lower; it most likely belonged to a male.

_"We work in a lab! We're all busy all the time!"_

_"Well, I'm more busy than you!"_

_"That's a load of Trubbish! And what do you mean you cleaned up Oshawott's mess? Minccino does all the cleaning around here!"_

_"That's no longer relevant! I said that like five minutes ago!"_

_"No, you said it like five SECONDS ago!"_

_"Oh, so now we're yelling?"_

_"We weren't already!? YOU'RE IN ANOTHER ROOM!"_

Rosaline and Will shared concerned, if not downright awkward glances. Had they not already been able to use their context clues to assume that the two voices worked at the lab, they might have assumed that a pair of mouthy thieves were robbing the place and that they were cutting in.

Noisily clearing her throat, Rosaline rapped a knuckle once on the door. "Um…hello? Is this a bad time?"

Immediately, the bickering stopped. A good two beats of silence followed, and then whispering.

_"Oh jeez…it's the Professor's guests…"_

_"What do we do?"_

_"We open the door! That's what we do!"_

_"You're closer!"_

_"Fine, fine…but you owe me."_

_"We've gone over this! It's your turn to-"_

_"Shush! We'll discuss this later!"_

There were a few more footsteps, these much more light and cautious than before. Another beat of silence, and then the click of the door being unlocked. The brass knob slowly turned.

Whomever stood at the other end did not open it fully at first, and only the right side of their face was revealed to the Greys through the open crack. From the way their red hair hung well brushed down to their shoulders, it seemed fair to guess that it was a woman. Her amber eye flicked from mother to son, identifying them. For this nor the door being locked, Will did not blame them. Nuvema might have been a rural town with a close-knit community but the threat of crime could not be ignored, especially at a facility that stored rare Pokémon and expensive machines.

The young woman swung the door open to reveal her petite frame, which was shrouded in a sterile white lab coat. Her round, friendly face betrayed the harsh and demanding voice that had battled with the other yet unseen lab hand before the door had been opened. She was short, probably a head shorter than Will himself. Adjusting her thing spectacles, she donned an embarrassed and apologetic smile. A bead of sweat appeared on her brow.

"Ehehe…welcome to Juniper Labs! I, uh…erm…" She coughed into her fist as she failed to break the ice, "Please come in! Make yourselves comfortable."

Rosaline nodded. "Thank you." The lab hand stepped out of the way and allowed Rosaline, leading Cassie along by hand, inside. Will and Cell followed.

"Um, I'm Valerie," the lab hand greeted as she closed the door behind them and they stepped into the lab's foyer, "That other voice was my brother, Malcolm. He should be down in a second. We both work for Professor Juniper."

With her free hand Rosaline shook Valerie's. "It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is-"

"Doctor Grey, yes." Valerie seemed to voraciously pounce on Rosaline's name. The older woman cocked an eyebrow, confusedly. Giggling awkwardly to herself again, Valerie folded her hands behind her back and swished her foot back and forth on the ground.

"Erm, sorry, I…I've read your thesis. On applications of plants to be used for a solution to the energy crisis, that is." Her smile twitched and evolved into a sloppy, awkward grin. She took a few steps closer to Rosaline and gave the impression to Will that she could begin drooling all over his mother at a moment's notice.

"I'm a huge fan of your work, Doctor!" spewed Valerie, her folded hands now pressed hopefully to her chest. "Anything about machines just gets me going, a-and…uh…eheh…ehehehe…"

Rosaline nervously urged Cassie, who didn't seem too comfortable either, to stand behind her. From behind Valerie came a disgruntled sigh, and a hand was planted firmly on her shoulder. Still drifting through the dreamlike fantasy world of being in the presence of one of her idols in the scientific community, Valerie barely noticed as she was dragged backwards on her heels by the unseen person.

"I'm sorry about my sister's behavior. She's a huge machine geek. Anything about cutting edge tech or metallurgy theories and she just loses it." Out from behind Valerie stepped another young hand wearing the telltale white lab coat as well as a pair of spectacles, his pair with frames a bit thicker than Valerie's. His hair, eyes and skin tone mirrored Valerie's exactly, minus the length of his hair, which dropped only to his ears, and his less-rounded shape. Even if he had not said so himself, it would have been quite clear that he was Valerie's brother.

"That's…quite alright," assured Rosaline, executing a sweatdrop herself. Having written a multitude of scientific reviews and theses, even a book or two, Rosaline was familiar with colleagues or scholars commenting favorably on her works. Never before, however, had she identified a…a…

How did the kids these days say it? "Fangirl"of her work?

Still behind her mother's legs, Cassie giggled. "You two look alike."

"That's because we're twins," said Malcolm, bending his knees to be eye-level with Cassie, "Valerie and I were born at the same time. Though I'm a few minutes older."

That seemed to snap Valerie out of her trance. "No, hold up! _I _was born first!"

Malcom stood upright and moved towards his sister and positioned himself directly in her face. "Have you been directly inhaling lab fumes lately? Mom said it was me!"

"Well, why don't we just call Mom and ask!?" she spat back, her face turning as red as her hair.

"We can't call Mom right now, idiot! We're at work and we have-"

The next word popped into both of their minds concurrently and they froze. In perfect unison, their heads swiveled towards the Greys. Will even managed a jesting wave before they turned back to each other and gulped. Slowly, the two stood upright, all color flushing from their faces. Both began to sweat profusely.

_Family vacations must be a hoot with these two… _Will thought to himself.

It would be understandable how the twins would be relatively unable to recover from that fiasco. Especially after Valerie's flabbergasted drooling all over the Professor's esteemed guest, and not to even mention the show they had put on before even opening the door.

And so they saw it as a divine gift from heaven above when the doorbell rang yet again.

"I'll get it!" cried Valerie.

"No, don't worry about it! I've got it handled!" Malcolm frantically croaked. Both assistants lunged for the door, their hands meeting on the knob and they wrestled for control.

For the third time in a mere span of minutes, the Greys were stunned. This time around however, now that Cassie had been introduced to the characters, she enjoyed the show all the more, smiling and giggling as she watched in between Rosaline's legs.

"They seem all too eager to open the door now…" mumbled Will.

"Solo so solos," added Cell. _Why can't we ever meet any normal people?_

Somehow through their tumultuous grabbing of the doorknob, Malcolm and Valerie had managed to get the door open. Or rather, _flung_ open. The duo lost their grip on the door and stumbled backwards onto their rear ends. With the door cleared now, Will could see who stood on the other end.

There were two of them, a boy and a girl. The boy seemed a bit unsettled but calm, faintly annoyed if nothing else at Malcolm and Valerie's nonsense. The girl just giggled, reacting like his young sibling despite seeming to be in his peer group.

Polar opposites, the two seemed from appearance at least. The boy wore a red and white V-neck shirt underneath his unbuttoned blue jacket, the color which his shoes matched. Obviously a meticulous dresser, a pair of black slacks completed his outfit's color matching. He had long but very neatly kept black hair, a single strand sticking up like a weed atop his head. His murky blue eyes glowered behind the lenses of his glasses and he wore beneath them a neutral frown.

Whereas the boy seemed dark and a bit gloomy, his counterpart was a ray of sunshine, or so she seemed. Everything about her was colorful: her sunny blond hair, her lime colored barrette, her orange vest and stockings over the white blouse and skirt, even down to her cream colored flats. Clothing tended to speak volumes for a one's personality, and this particular set made the girl out to be much more sociable than her male counterpart.

And if that was the case, Will's simple white T-shirt and weathered jeans would write for him a very short description: that he had dressed comfortably for a long road trip and that was about it.

"Oh…Cheren and Bianca…" moaned Valerie, rubbing her sore posterior, "You've arrived…"

"Exactly on time," the boy, Cheren, smoothly corrected.

"Cheren came to get me early so I didn't forget and make us late again!" added Bianca, giggling at her own apparent forgetfulness. Her eyes flickered to Juniper's other guests and her face look up. She skipped quickly past Malcolm and Valerie, paying no attention to their heed. She approached a little too quickly for Will to have reacted, and before he knew it she was right in front of his face. Startled, he jumped backwards. Cell snickered at his unsettling.

"U-uh…can I help you?" he stammered, shaking nervously. Bianca had come a little too close for comfort a little too fast

"My name's Bianca!" she merrily greeted, holding out a hand. Tentatively, Will shook it.

_I gathered that much_. He did not say that out loud, however, for fear of coming off as rude. But Will received the distinct impression that a person like Bianca would simply shrug off a remark of that kind.

"Please don't mind Bianca. She tends to get excited around new people."

The raven haired boy decided that he'd waited long enough for an invitation inside and shut the door with a gentle kick as he stepped in. Hands folded across his chest, he stopped behind Bianca and nodded to Will. "Cheren Komori," he greeted. "My mother owns one of the orchards at the end of town. You might have seen it on your way in."

"W-William Grey," stammered Will, Bianca still leaning in at an uncomfortable proximity. Keeping his eyes on her to make sure she didn't try any funny stuff, he jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Cell. "This is my Pokémon, Cell. And that's my mother and my sister, Cassie. We're from Icirrus City."

"Solos," said Cell. _Hello, there._

"Delighted to meet you, Cheren," said Rosaline evenly. Now overwhelmed by the amount of strangers in the room, Cassie had retreated back behind Rosaline's legs.

"Charmed," responded Cheren. Now stroking his chin thoughtfully, he directed his attention back to Cell. "A Solosis…rare around these parts. Seems to be at a lower level, so I'm guessing it's your starter…So you're not here for a Pokémon, then?"

Will's had to clamp his teeth firmly together when Cheren made the audacious remark about Cell's skill level. His partner might have been a bit unimpressive in the size department, but the two had won a very respectable amount of battles together both in Viridian City in Kanto and in their new hometown. Years and years of hearing such scathing comments about Cell's power and capability had given Will a harsh intolerance for such things.

Cell didn't seem too happy about it either. It was hard for such an adorable creature to seem menacing, but Cheren seemed like a smart kid and would notice by the way that Cell's eyes narrowed that the Cell Pokémon wasn't too impressed by Cheren's analysis.

Will could have continued on with his fiery disapproval of what Cheren had said, but once again all present were directed towards the door, which was opening for to admit yet another new face. Though it seemed that it was only new to Will, for both Cheren and Bianca seemed to recognize the young woman stepping through the door.

Malcolm and Valerie too seemed to recognize her, but instead of smiling at her approach frantically scrambled to their feet and brushing themselves off. Despite being in their early twenties, their matching "I didn't do it" smiles did nothing but help to incriminated them, as a pair of naughty children would do to their returning parents.

Rosaline, Will noticed, seemed to recognize her too. Comforted by the familiar face among the sea of strangers pouring in through the door, Rosaline smiled and pulled her daughter out from behind her.

"Aurea," she greeted warmly, "It's been too long."

The woman smiled back, closing the door behind her (for Rosaline's sake, hopefully for the last time).

"It's nice to see you too, Rosaline." Professor Juniper adjusted her handbag's straps to a more comfortable position on her shoulder. Juniper looked from her lab hands to Rosaline, then to Cassandra and finally to the grouping of Will, Cheren, Bianca and Cell.

"I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting," she said earnestly, moving further away from the door. "Now, if you'd all like to, how about we begin?"

Again, Will could only wonder what they could possibly be starting. Though he had a faint idea…

* * *

**So there ya have it, folks! We've met our dashing young hero, now all grown up, and have followed him to Nuvema Town amidst his dilemma. What is Rosaline planning for Will at Juniper's lab? What does Juniper have in store for these three Trainers? Find out next week in:**

_**Pokemon Black and White: Excelsior! Chapter 2: Rival Destinies!**_

**So, as you might have noticed, I just took Bianca's name in the Japanese release of the games and retooled it as her last name. I was gonna do the same for Cheren, but you know what his is Japense name is? It's still Cheren! So, to avoid having "Cheren Cheren" be Will's main rival, I instead took the Italian translation of his name. So thank you to the Italian language for coming to my rescue on that one XD**

**Alright, onto other subjects. Those of you who have read along with my work for a while, I usually ask a little question at the end of each chapter for you to give me some opinion on when you (hopefully) review. So since this is a new story, I feel like I can start over with and use some of my old ones. As such, this weeks Reader Question is: What is your favorite Unova starter? **

**Reviews are much appreciated! Thanks for reading and I hope you stop back next week! **

_**P.S. On account of me having to embark on a trip next week, the chapter will be posted either earlier or later. Fingers are crossed that I can find the time to put it up earlier, but I just thought I'd let you know. Bye!**_


	3. Chapter 2: Rival Destinies

Chapter 2: Rival Dstinies 

**Cheren Komori and Bianca Belle served many purposes in the company of the Hero. For one thing, they became his first human friends, the first he had befriended in a long time by that point in his life. Had their individual reactions upon meeting for the first time not been what they were, the Hero might not have been as used to other peers being accepting of him when he'd encounter the five others who would one day come to be known as Unova's Seven. That goes twofold for his readiness in battle: the two of them, Cheren especially, kept sure that the Hero was on his toes for the battles to come. **

**-Excerpt from _Unova's Seven_, a historical recounting by Lucina Hale-Grey**

* * *

In terms of age among the Pokémon Professors, Aurea Juniper doubtlessly held the title for the youngest. Will had only personally met Samuel Oak, but knew from pictures and video broadcasts that the other four regional Professors were much older than Juniper. While not as ancient perhaps as Kanto's Professor Oak or Sinnoh's Professor Rowan, Professors Birch, Elm and Sycamore all seemed to be at least in their mid-thirties. Professor Juniper couldn't be any more than five years older than the redheaded twins who worked for her.

"Well, it looks like my tardiness at least accomplished _something_" said Juniper, optimistically. "I had originally planned to be here to see the Greys settled in before you and Bianca arrived, Cheren. Of course, I had forgotten about your split-second timing and thought I'd have a few extra minutes anyway…" Grinning ironically, she shrugged. "But, I took longer at the post office than I would have hoped, so none of that really matters. I take it now you're all acquainted?"

"Yeah…" croaked Will, his eyes flickering nervously back to Bianca "You could say that…"

Juniper smiled. "So you're William, eh? I've heard a lot about you from your mother. I think you'll make for a perfect candidate, don't you agree?"

"Well, I kind of have to know what's going on first to agree…" Will gave his mother a sideways look. He knew this was one of her schemes to wake him out of his funk. Some therapeutic something or other to make him stop seething over his most current disappointment.

He'd just need a few days to cool off and get back into the game. Never before had one of his little pity-parties lasted more than a week and that was because he had been able to sort out his own problems on his own time. Excluding once when he was a child, it had always been William Grey who resolved William Grey's issues.

"Professor, if we might be able to carry this along?" suggested Cheren, his words anxious but his tone even. "My mother was inviting some friends and family over for a farewell party. I don't want to be late."

"Cheren's mom makes the best apple pie…" said Bianca dreamily, swaying back and forth as she fantasized of the warm and flaky crust melting in her mouth.

"I won't keep you waiting any longer," replied Juniper. She didn't seem at all offended at Cheren's impudence of pushing his own schedule. As a matter of fact the very same welcoming smile she had donned when first greeting them all still remained. Will guessed this behavior was very common in Cheren.

_Most definitely so, _he amended, _People like Cheren don't favor a lot of change._

Juniper clapped her hands together. "We'd best get started then. We'll get you kids all set up so that Rosaline and I can have our little meeting." She turned to Malcolm and Valerie, which caused the twins to twitch suddenly like they had stepped on a Raichu's tail. Juniper was not intent on blaming them for anything (at the moment) but they were unaware of that. "Why don't you two go upstairs and bring Them down. We'll let the children decide amongst themselves who picks first."

They nodded quickly and scurried up the staircase, for the first time in a long time agreeing on something: that getting the requested package together was a better option than taking the time to hang around Juniper and bicker over who got to go.

Leaving her with her guests would also leave her less opportunity to ponder what was making them so nervous. They were a handful to Juniper sometimes, but they were loyal, creative where it counted and geniuses in their respective fields of biology and machinery.

"I'd invite you all to take your shoes off and get comfortable, but as you know, this is a laboratory and-" Juniper stopped herself, fixated on a shoe-shaped blotch of dirt on the ground. "Speaking of shoes. Minccino?"

"Chino?" Will heard a sharp intake of breath from both Bianca and his little sister as the Pokémon in question's head poked out of Juniper's handbag.

Minccino had a light grey fur that coated her entire body except for the tips of her long ears and tail, which were white. Minccino was meticulously well groomed in all areas with the exception of a tuft of fur that protruded from her neck, forehead, and ears.

Minccino smiled welcomingly at her houseguests until she noticed the dirt that marred her otherwise perfect floor. As the sole housekeeper of Juniper Labs, Minccino took great pride in her work.

And when her work was ruined or undone, it unleashed in her an obsessive cleaning frenzy that one thousand hells could not contain.

Her tiny heart beat like a jackhammer and she flew into a senseless panic, leaping out of Juniper's bag and scurrying as fast as her little legs could carry her to the umbrella stand that stood next to the door. From behind it she removed a tiny dust pan and, clamping it in between her teeth, she skittered to the tiny splotch of dirt. She dropped the dust pan's handle into one hand and began frantically sweeping the dirt into the pan with her long tail, which only now that it was being used in that way did Will equate it with its artificial lookalike: the brush.

"Wow," he commented, "Minccino is really efficient at cleaning. There isn't a speck of dirt left!"

"All Minccino possess that mentality," Cheren informed him, adjusting his glasses, "For as long as humans have documented behavioral traits in Pokémon, Minccino have always been known for their furious drive to clean everything they see."

"Wish I had a Minccino to clean my room for me…" lamented Bianca.

Juniper let out a quick chuckle of amusement as she picked up Minccino and propped the Chinchilla Pokémon back onto her shoulder. She beckoned for the children to follow.

"Alright, you three. Come with me and we can get started."

Cheren followed heedlessly with Bianca scurrying behind him to catch up. Will tentatively joined in their direction, quickly looking up at his mother as he passed her by. There was a puzzled look on his face. Rosaline simply nodded and gave him a "Just play along with it" wink and urged him along. Will rolled his eyes and followed along. Cell wasn't far behind him.

Juniper lead the three teenagers into a rectangular expanse adjacent to the door. The white tiled area was much more scarcely furnished than the rest of the lab that Will had seen thus far, and not very many spaces were covered.

A few bookshelves lined the walls, not as fully stocked as one might expect a scientist to keep around. Up on the wall hung a large screen, which was currently blank. In the small room's corners were two cylindrical machines with red tops and glass middles, revealing the rotunda-like apparatus within it, probably for storing Pokèballs. In the center was a simple wooden table, bearing nothing on its surface.

Cheren, Bianca and Will stopped at the mouth of the area while Juniper proceeded to the table, unshouldering her bag and dropping it onto the hardwood surface. That done, she turned around and clapped her hands together, ready again to start.

"Alright, let's begin! I am-"

"Professor Juniper, we know," deadpanned Cheren. For such a uniform person he seemed to have no tolerance for formalities that committed the incomprehensible crime of wasting Cheren's valuable time.

Juniper gave him a menacing look. "I was getting to that," she said through gritted teeth. She set the joking aside and recomposed herself. "Listen, I have to go through shpeal this every time, alright? It's a rule. I'll stop when Mal and Val get back but until then, we get this over with. Sound good?"

Cheren simply shrugged and Bianca giggled. Juniper, leaning up against the table, continued.

"Alrighty then. So, as you all know, my name is Professor Juniper. Here in the Unova region I study how the creatures we call Pocket Monsters, or _Pokémon_, came into existence. It is my duty and privilege to prepare each of you who step through these doors with the knowledge and readiness it takes to complete a Pokémon Journey."

And then it hit Will.

His eyes grew as wide as saucer plates as he realized the truth of what was happening here. That's why he had been dragged all the way to Nuvema Town! As far as he knew, there was no "meeting" between Juniper and his mother. She was trying to ship him off on his own Pokémon Journey!

Not to get him wrong, Will had always fantasized about going on a journey. Meeting new people, discovering new Pokémon and winning fame and reputation all over the world. And Pokémon Trainer's made a good deal of money during their travels, not to mention.

Yes, Will had thought about embarking on a Journey, which most kids back in Kanto began at the age of ten, and so he would have too. But then something terrible had happened, causing Will to forget about that dream for a very long time.

Even so, it was too little time in which he could make up his mind for a thing like this. And he wasn't about to interrupt Juniper's little ceremony to give his piece, either.

Mentally, he let out a frustrated sigh; his hands were tied up nice and tight by his mother's scheme. For now he'd have to take her mother's advice and just play along with it.

Will didn't realize that Juniper had been talking over his brief inner respite. Nor did Juniper realize that her lab assistants were planning on taking so long to retrieve the package she had requested from just upstairs. Distracted now, Juniper was just looking for ways to stall in case they took any longer.

"Sooo…yeah, that's about it…" Her eyes flickered nervously from child to child. Only Cheren seemed to notice her floundering. But he was always wearing that unamused frown.

_Darn it, you two! _Juniper mentally cursed as she could feel Cheren's gaze bearing down on her soul. _All I'm supposed to do is give the speech and hand out the Pokémon! You're just supposed to get them! The system works because the system isn't compli-yes! Finally!_

Juniper heard feet trampling down the stairs and sure enough, it was Mal and Val. Malcolm came down in the lead, cradling something in his arms. Valerie followed closely behind him.

"It's about, er, I mean, thank you." Juniper bit her tongue as she accepted the cylindrical container from Mal. He nodded and then retreated to the back of the room with his sister, standing next to Rosaline and Cassie, looking on.

Juniper sighed, contented. "Now we can continue." She placed the container gently on the table and pressed her finger against the small white button in the center.

_CLICK-HSSSSSSSSS!_

It popped open, a chilly white fog rising out of it. The vapor quickly faded away and revealed to Will and the others just what they had been expecting (except Bianca, who thought the frosty mist heralded frozen dairy treats of some kind).

There in a perfect row sat three Pokèballs, their red caps gleaming pristinely. Minccino most likely already had her lot with cleaning them, for the grey ball of fur remained calm on Juniper's shoulder as she removed the capsules.

"These are the three Pokémon a Trainer starting their Journey can receive from me here," said Juniper, backing away from the table with all three Pokèballs in her hands. "You'll each get to choose one to become your first Pokémon partner with. Now, let's meet them!"

With one grand flay of her arms, the three Pokèballs were sent tumbling into the air. All three Trainers, even Cheren, remained fixated on the spheres as they spun to the apotheosis of their arc before strands of white light began shooting from their centers. With three loud pops they exploded open in streams of light, each landing on the table and pooling into a distinct shape. The lights faded, revealing the three Pokémon.

First from the left was the smallest of the three, a bipedal green Pokémon with a tan underside and a curved beak of a nose. It had large amber eyes on each side of its head, giving it an expansive line of sight both forward and behind. Very useful for such a small Pokémon, or any at that. Two yellow crests folded from its shoulders around to its back, giving it an air of regality. But the piece de resistance for that trait was the sudden crossing of its leaf-like arms as it snootily turned its head away from the three Trainers, swishing its equally leaf-like tail as it did.

Second from the left and directly in the middle of the three was a small mammalian Pokémon, larger than both the first and third but small nonetheless. Will felt no harm done to his masculinity in admitting that it was one of the most adorable creatures he had ever laid eyes on. Its head was fluffy and round like a snowball, with a brown button nose dead center and a splash of freckles under its dark, "puppy dog" eyes. Its tiny torso was a puffy mess of turquois fur, with two stubby arms the color of its head protruding from the side. Its feet and flat Bibarel-esque tail were both a dark blue. Probably this creature's defining feature aside from its overall adorable demeanor was the seashell that rested in the center of its belly.

Finally was a squat orange and brown pig Pokémon, probably not on par with the second in terms of adorableness, but not exactly hard to look at either. It's snout was small and rosy pink lying underneath a stripe of yellow fur on its face. Its two forefeet were tipped with black hooves, and its back legs were a bit stubbier but had no hooves to speak of. There were two patches of black fur on it; one on its head and covering its ears and one on its posterior, making it look like the Pokémon wore a tiny pair of pants. Sprouting from its behind was a squiggly tail topped with a spherical apparatus the color of its snout.

"Awwww!" mewed Bianca, swaying to and fro. "They're all so cute! I can't even decide which one I'm going to pick!"

"You should wait until we decide who goes first before getting attached to any particular one," cautioned Cheren, again fixing his glasses.

"How about we all calm down and wait for Professor Juniper to finish?" suggested Will, earning a wry smile from the professor.

"I vote for the third one," she jested before turning back to the Pokémon. "Now, here are the three options you'll have for your first Pokémon, specially selected by the Unova Pokémon League."

"Solo losis," mumbled Cell. _They don't look so great…_

Will placed an index finger on his lips, signaling his Pokémon to be silent and wait.

"First we have Snivy, the Grass Snake Pokémon," stated Juniper, motioning to the green Pokémon on the left. "Snivy have been known for their stubbornness and difficulty to train, as well as their pride. But underestimate their capacity to follow orders and you might find yourself at the end of a nasty surprise in battle."

"Next is Oshawott, the Sea Otter Pokémon. Again, don't underestimate him just because he's cute." While Juniper explained, Oshawott seemed to gush at her praise. "Oshawott are capable of powerful Water-Type attacks at both close and long range, and can learn a variety of striking moves with the shell that they wear on their bellies, called the scalchop. Truly a jack-of-all-trades in battle."

"Finally we have Tepig, the Fire Pig Pokémon. Tepig are known for their resilience and loyalty. If a Trainer tells him to accomplish a task, he'll just keep picking himself back off of the ground until it no longer can. Even in their smallest and weakest form, Tepig's flames are extremely hot and can singe Pokémon of significantly larger masses. A great choice for your starter. Now, speaking of which, who will pick first?"

Before Cheren could give his ponderous reply, Bianca piped up. "I think Will should go first!" she chirped, raising her hand as if she were in school, "He is the guest here in Nuvema, after all."

"How very considerate of you, Bianca," remarked Juniper with a smile.

"I don't mind," Cheren said, shrugging. He had no desired first pick anyhow. His choices were going to be based chiefly on strategy.

"Um…Professor?"

Will paused, looking over his shoulder at Cell. The Solosis looked at him with the same exact expression: unsurely. Will had never had another Pokémon of his own besides Cell. He shivered, a bad memory resurfacing.

Long story short, he'd never had another Pokémon _at the same time _as Cell. And, all in all, he wasn't sure now was the where or when he'd be able to get used to that. "If it's all the same to you…I already have a Pokémon."

"Oh?" Juniper knew he referred to Cell, but only wished to further hear his reasoning. She would by no means force or further pressure him to take another Pokémon, but was surprised to say the least. Most Trainers would jump at the chance to receive a free and extremely rare starter Pokémon.

"Yes," affirmed Will, "Cell and I have been through a lot together. I won't be opposed to catching other Pokémon on the Journey, but…there's no other Pokémon I'd rather start my adventures with than Cell."

"Losis!" Cell exclaimed prudently. _That's right! Will and I are a team!_

"I respect your decision, Will. But hang tight; I've still got something for you." Now she turned to Cheren and Bianca, Will having made his position clear. "Looks like it's just you two now. So, ladies first?"

"I'd rather have a fair ruling on who goes first," said Cheren, making his own unique case for chivalry being quite dead, "Perhaps a game of chance?"

"How about 'Rock, Paper, Scissors?'" suggested Bianca.

Cheren shrugged. "Fine by me."

The two stood adjacent to each other with their right hand held flat and parallel to the ground and their left balled up into a fist resting in it. They faced each other and shook their fist up and down as Bianca shouted, "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"

They both froze, their hands each formed in a different shape. Cheren's left hand was held flat while Bianca's was still clenched in a fist. Flabbergasted, she threw her hands to the side and pouted at her defeat.

"How come you always beat me!?" she wondered aloud.

"Because you always pick 'Rock.'"

Cheren strode away from Will and Bianca and closer to the table so that he could get a better look. Tepig and Oshawott looked hopefully up at Cheren as the raven haired boy stroked his chin. Snivy snuck a quick peek at Cheren, and after realizing that he too was being studied, snorted and turned back around.

_What to pick, _thought Cheren. Bianca's and the Professor's affinity of ceremony lead him to predict that Will would be nominated for the first pick. He had been correct in this assumption, but had not accounted for Will turning the honor down.

Cheren had initially planned on going after Will, then beating Bianca in "Rock, Paper, Scissors" and then picking the Type that would nullify Will's choice. Since he was already technically a Pokémon Trainer (and not Bianca) he would have proven the most prominent among Cheren's rivals.

Not to mention that the native Kantoan had been an applicant to the prestigious Eterna Academy. Albeit a rejected one, it took stellar grades and strings to be pulled in order to even be considered for the college without being bought in. But now with the complete freedom to pick his way, Cheren had to assess carefully.

Snivy, the Grass-Type, would be the fastest and most evasive, being able to strike quickly and decisively, dance nimbly around attacks or even a combination of both. An ideal choice for someone like Cheren.

Tepig, the Fire-Type, was the tank of the three. It could take the most damage and deal the most out, albeit slowly and less accurately than Snivy could. Fire-Types were not well renowned for their ability to take a lot of damage from a lot of different sources, but Tepig line was definitely an exception to the rule. That combined with a Fire-Type's notoriety to cause massive amounts of damage would make it a difficult foe to counter.

Oshawott was a balance of the two traits. The Water-Type was as Juniper described it; a jack of all trades and a master of none. It could attack efficiently from any range with attacks like Water Pulse at a distance and Razor Shell up close. For a Trainer who didn't want a Pokémon specialized in any one battle trope, Oshawott would be a boon.

Cheren quickly made up his mind. "I choose Snivy," he declared. Professor Juniper nodded and handed him Snivy's Pokèball.

"A good choice," she commented.

"Snivy sni," squeaked the Grass Snake. _As if there were any question about it._

That meant it was Bianca's turn. The blonde dashed excitedly up to the table, much closer than Cheren had been, and studied the two Pokémon as personally as she had when first meeting Will. He was glad that the two remaining starters were so excited about being chosen; otherwise, they would probably be weirded out.

"Hm…Which one…?" Bianca thoughtfully tapped her chin as her eyes went from Oshawott to Tepig to Oshawott to Tepig. Tepig remained happily in one position, allowing Bianca to study him. Oshawott, on the other hand, was a bit more twitchy. Every time Bianca would face him, his breath would catch in his tiny throat and he'd almost jump. Anxiety was killing the little guy.

"They're both such cuties…but I pick Tepig!"

"Pig tep tepig!" he excitedly snorted, smoke whistling jubilantly from his nostrils.

Next to him, Oshawott plopped down on his bottom and began to mope. This hadn't been the first time and it didn't look like it was going to be the last.

"Congratulations on your choices, both of you," said Juniper, handing Bianca Tepig's ball. Over her shoulder she noted the depressed Oshawott, and patted the little guy on his fuzzy shoulder. "Hey, cheer up, Oshawott. I'm sure you'll get picked next time."

"Osha wott…" he moaned. _That's what you said last time…_

Will was anxious to consult his two new acquaintances on their choices. He made sure Cell was following behind him (a force of habit) and made his way over to Cheren and Bianca.

"So, you guys excited to finally have Pokémon of your own now?" he asked, confident in knowing the feeling himself.

"HE'S SO ADOOOOOORABLE!" shrieked Bianca, partially answering the question. Tepig was clamped in her arms, the poor creature's legs dangling as she swung him back and forth in a brutal Beartic hug. "I just wanna eat him right up!"

"Piig!" _W-what!?_

"Solo solos," said Cell, reassuring the Tepig. _Don't worry. It's just an expression._

"So, what do you plan on doing next?" asked Will to Cheren.

"I was thinking of challenging you to a battle," he said calmly, "Out of the three of us, you've had the most experience as an actual Trainer. I'd like to test Snivy out against you and your Pokémon."

"A-already!?" stammered Will. Technically speaking, if you counted having an Pokémon that followed your orders as making you a "Trainer," Will had been one for about ten years. A few less if you counted actually having a Trainers' license.

But still, a formidable amount of experience between Trainer and Pokémon at such an early stage in their lives.

Cheren, on that technicality, had been a Trainer for about two or three minutes. Perhaps a few weeks longer if having the license counted.

"Yes. I want to see how polished my skills are before I depart for Accumula Town tomorrow."

"B-but didn't you say you had a party to go to?" stammered Will, beginning to make excuses.

Cheren shrugged. "I do," he said coolly, checking his watch. But apparently time meant nothing anyhow. "But I was planning on challenging you anyhow. The reason I urged Professor Juniper to carry on with her formalities was so I could be on schedule for challenging you.

Will was baffled. Did he have _everything_ pre-planned!? "W-when are you scheduled to challenge me?"

"Two and a half minutes ago," he answered, "But I can be right back on track if we make it a quick one."

"Losis so…" grumbled Cell, Cheren's attitude beginning to test him. _Keep it up, and I promise you it will be._

Both Trainers heard an amused chuckled from behind them. They around to the source.

"Such enthusiasm. I _love _it." Professor Juniper moved back over to the table, where Oshawott still moped, to retrieve her bag. Fishing rampantly through it, she began to walk back.

"I hope that you've guessed that I don't just give out Pokémon as charity," she said, her arm now motionless in the bag meaning that it had probably located what she sought. Her task accomplished, she looked back at the fletching Trainers and beamed.

"I'm a researcher; I do research, and a lot of it. And sometimes, I need research done _for_ me. But I'm only one person and my funding has a very distinct limit. I can't hire as many hands as I'd like to and I can't just send un or underpaid minors out to do it for me; the law says I can't do that. I can, however, start a Trainer off on their journey in exchange for this research."

Out from the bag, she pulled three short rectangular boxes. They were thin, at about twice the thickness of an average smartphone but small nonetheless. Two of them were black in coloring and one was light grey.

"These are the Pokémon Digital Encyclopedias," informed Juniper as she passed them out to each of the three Trainers, "Or 'Pokèdexes' for short. They automatically record the data of every single Pokémon you catch or encounter. Provided that they exist in known records, it can also access all recorded data of such a Pokémon. When used on a single Pokémon, it can provide you on useful information such as gender, type, move sets and so much more." She playfully winked. "I'd tell you more, but those are just the basics. I prefer for my protégés to become familiar with its advanced and hidden features on their own.

"Protégés?" wondered Will.

"Hidden features?" wondered Cheren, toying with his Pokèdex and no longer paying attention to Juniper.

Smiling, she nodded. "That's right. Each and every one of you has something special that is perfectly ideal for the kind of Trainer I want working for me. More well-known Professors like Oak or Birch may use a raffle system to pick from their pool of applicants, but I can afford to be a bit choosier."

Such high praise was definitely honored and welcomed by Will, but reflecting on it, he couldn't help but be dragged to a lower place. He knew not what Juniper meant when she said that. Cheren was intelligent and composed. Perfect for getting a job as intricate and often delicate as research done. Bianca, while admittedly a bit ditzy and perhaps a little flighty as well had a near infinite resolve, and not to mention her physical high energy. Very useful to Juniper, arguably just as much as Cheren.

But what did he have? As of late, nothing more than an exceptionally rancid attitude. His long term résumé could only possibly display his lengthy string of failures.

As he pondered, Will studied his Pokèdex. There was nothing too intricate about the device's design except for the red Pokèball shape on its cover and the small screen at its top. Its slanted bottom sported several small USB ports of various size and shape. Three smooth buttons, their functions unknown, dotted the side.

Will ran his fingers experimentally up them as if he were reading braille. Accidently, he put pressure on the button highest on the Pokèdex's right side. Letting out a serious of clicks, the Pokèdex's screen slid forward and folded upwards to reveal yet another screen below it! On the top screen appeared a picture of Snivy, which Will guessed was the Pokémon closest to the Pokèdex's LED detection apparatus. File photos of different Snivy began to cycle through across the screen. On the bottom screen, stats and statistical data began to scroll up and across as a synthetic voice read off a brief bio of the creature.

**Snivy, **buzzed the Pokèdex, **The Grass Snake Pokémon. Snivy are extremely supercilious and prideful in nature, making them difficult for inexperienced Trainers to train. Snivy are most often motivated to fight larger or noticeably stronger opponents and will sometimes deign it below them to face inferior foes. Snivy are said to be so proud that if they lose often in battle, the leaf on their tail will begin to droop. This large tail also allows them to absorb abundant sunlight and produce glucose and other sugars internally, which improve its speed when in direct sunlight. This Snivy is a male and is an estimated two years of age. It possesses the ability Overgrow and can use the moves Tackle, Leer and Vine Whip.**

"Cool!" chirped Bianca. "I wanna try!" She pointed her Pokèdex the wrong way and began to fumble with it, searching for a way to turn it on. Tepig waited patiently at her feet.

Will smiled; patience would be a very useful trait for a Pokémon of Bianca's to possess.

After a good thirty seconds of trying, Bianca became discouraged. Her arms dropped to her sides and she turned bemoaning to Professor Juniper. "Professor, mine's broken. Can I have a new one?"

"Bianca, honey…" The Professor drew a circle in the air with her index finger. Bianca stared down at her Pokèdex in confusion for a moment before finally catching on. She flipped the Pokèdex around and now, facing the right direction and pointed at Tepig, she pressed the "On" button.

**Tepig, the Fire Pig Pokémon, **chirped Bianca's Pokèdex, the synthetic voice much more feminine than Will's. **Tepig are invaluable Pokémon to keep around during the cold: they are compact, loyal, and possess enough internal body heat to warm an entire room fueled only by food. Tepig will only eat food heated by their own flames and nothing else, since a Tepig's body heat remains constant and will always burn food to an exact degree. During battle, a Tepig's body heat can briefly increase up to three times its normal heat. This Tepig is male and is an estimated two years of age. It possesses the ability Blaze and can use the moves Tackle, Tail Whip and Ember.**

"Wow! That' sooooo cool!" Bianca gushed, hugging the Pokèdex to her chest with the affection she had just held her Tepig with. "I promise I won't break it, Professor!"

"I'm sure you wi-won't! I'm sure you won't!" Juniper sweatdropped. She had the utmost faith in Bianca, but her ratio of valuable positions broken to valuable possessions kept in one piece was not very impressive. Seeing it in everyone's best interest, Juniper tried to quickly change the subject.

"S-so, Will and Cheren, are you two still looking to have a battle now?" she asked.

"I'd like to remain on schedule," said Cheren, nodding his head.

"I'll take that as a yes from Cheren…" grumbled the Professor, "How about you, William?"

"Well…" Will looked over his shoulder to where his mother and sister stood. Rosaline seemed to be beaming at her son in a way she had not in a very long time. Something glistened on her cheek as she smiled unwaveringly. Was it a tear?

"Go ahead," permitted Rosaline, "You kids go have fun. It'll give Professor Juniper and I a chance to talk."

"I'll referee!" volunteered Val, who up until that point in time since Juniper arrived had managed the incredible feat of remaining silent and not bickering with her brother. But as all records eventually are, this one was broken.

"You don't know squat about refereeing!" argued Mal, "I'll do it!"

"When's the last time you even refereed?" she retorted, giving him a light shove.

"Sooner than you, that's how long!" He shoved her back. She wobbled but regained her balance, thrusting her arms back at her brother. Mal caught them and began to push back, locking the two in a vicious stalemate. Evenly matched and seeing no option but continue or surrender, Mal and Val continued the struggle amidst which they shouted curses and insults at each other. Rosaline speedily covered up her daughter's ears.

Juniper felt an oncoming migraine and rubbed her forehead, leaving the Trainers and walking over to her colleague. "This…happens a lot. Would you like some coffee?"

"I'd live some," said Rosaline, offering an exhausted smile. The two women, child and Minccino headed for the kitchen, leaving the three Trainers to themselves. Well, not completely alone if you counter the four Pokémon and arguing pair of twins, now full on wrestling on the ground.

"We're a full three minutes behind schedule…" Cheren commented as he checked his watch once again, implying the fact that he'd prefer to move on.

"We?" responded Will.

Cheren rolled his eyes as if Will were being the unreasonable one. "Do you want that battle or not?"

Denying Cheren his battle and throwing his entire schedule into a tizzy would have brought Will immense pleasure. But then he remembered the other boy's remarks about Cell's low level and high aptitude for losing, as well as the burning desire he had felt to make Cheren eat those words.

"You're on," said Will. He felt a certain fire light within him, one he had not tasted the effects of in a long, long time. By now it was unfamiliar. Foreign, even.

But damned if it didn't feel great.

"Fine then. Let's go out back and have ourselves a battle," replied Cheren, calm but determined to utterly decimate the tall boy before him and earn his first victory.

* * *

**Last week I said I'd have to post this chapter either earlier or later than the time I usually did in the afternoon on Friday, since I wont have any opportunities to post this until very late tomorrow. So I'm glad I could at least get this out before then so you guys don't have to wait!**

**So it looks like Cheren and Bianca have picked their starters and Pokedexes, along with Will, who thinks he has figured out the game that Rosaline is playing at. What other conspiracies against him does she consort with Professor Juniper? And who will come out on top in the battle between the experienced Will and the calculating Cheren? **

**Find out next time on: _Pokemon Black and White: Excelsior! Chapter 3: First Battle! Will vs. Cheren!_**

**If you like epic Pokemon fics like this one and feel the need to read, check out Coli Chibi's "_Pokemon Red and Blue: Tony's Journey!" _Coli Chibi is a good friend of mine here and has helped me out a lot with my own stories. He's a great author and you should check out ALL of his stuff, if you get the chance! I'd appreciate it if you gave his stuff a read!**

**In light of the announcement of the new anime special (which has me pretty excited) this week's Reader Question is: are you excited for _Strongest Mega Evolution Act I_, and what are your thoughts on it? Personally, I think it looks awesome and I'm thankful for any break from Ash we can get in the anime...you'll find out here, if you don't already know, that I _really _dislike Ash as a protagonist...**

**But that's beside the point! Leave an answer if you review, and leave a review if you'd please, and I'll see you next week for some more Pokemon-y goodness!**


	4. Chapter 3: First Battle! Will vs Cheren

**Chapter 3: First Battle! Will vs. Cheren!**

**As Pokémon Trainers (on this I can speak from a direct understanding) there is no experience from which we learn more about ourselves than our very first battle. Scrimmages up until that fateful moment when a journey begins don't count; the same goes for school battles. When one has their first Pokémon partner, when prize money and prestige are on the line, few to no experiences can compare to its value. They say that when two Trainers face off, each with one of their partners on the field of battle, that there are actually four people present: two students and two teachers. And the two teachers seem to be able to get across many valuable lessons to their pupils through saying mostly their names.**

**_-_****Excerpt from _A Trainer's Anthology_, a publication by Professor Samuel Oak**

* * *

Luckily for Cheren and Will, a battlefield was just within a stone's throw from the lab. Much befitting of such a place where Trainers would be eager to test their new partners in battle, a small area in the forested backyard of Juniper's laboratory had been cleared out for use of battling. When she inherited the lab from her father four years prior she had specifically requested its creation for the purpose of young Trainers testing out and taking the initial first step to forging a bond with their new Pokémon.

Had Will been a local, the spot would most certainly have been a favorite of his. The field itself, about fifteen yards in length and twenty in width, had been built at the edge of the nearby forest. Long grasses and shrubs hugged the long dirt rectangle and reminded Will, for better or for worse, of his childhood days back on the suburban outskirts of Viridian City where he would play. Overhanging tree branches shaded the makeshift arena, cooling it to the perfect temperature and eliminating the random and unfair possibility of the sun temporarily blinding a combatant. But a few cracks of sunlight danced through the budding spring leaves and onto the arena.

Will was amazed at the field's immaculate condition and wondered how it was kept in such good repair, what with all of the priority chores and duties lab personnel would have piled on their daily schedule.

He then remembered, however, the small detail of Minccino and her sporadic cleaning tendencies. Her radius of cleanliness around the lab was most respectable. And if this had been her work, then that would have to mean that the tiny mammal would have had to learn how to use the wheeled chalking machine, which currently was leaning up against the wooden bleachers on the field's left side, to outfit the field with League standard division marks. Props to her.

Just now, Will was heading to the opposite end of the field to take his place in the blue corner; Cheren would occupy the red. Bianca and Tepig were excitedly taking their seats in the bleachers, and Cassie had joined them.

Her care had been entrusted to Bianca, who after her "greeting" required several assurances from Professor Juniper that she would not in any way cause harm to or lose track of Will's little sister. Albeit a little wary, Will felt sure that Bianca would be true to her word. Looking over to the bleachers, Will noticed that Bianca's hand was clamped around his sister's. The bubbly blonde was taking it seriously after all.

Valarie, noticeably happier than her brother, was assuming the position she had earned as referee in the center of the field. Their wrestling stalemate had not lasted long, and soon after Malcolm had found himself pinned face down on the ground by his own sister with his arm being twisted mercilessly behind his back until he not only surrendered, but also promised to finish his Valerie's chores for the rest of the week. Quite unhappily, he plopped down on the bleachers next to Bianca.

"What's the matter?" inquired Bianca, noticing his melancholy.

Malcolm sighed. "I have to do the rest of my sister's stupid chores…"

"That doesn't sound so bad," she chirped optimistically, "And besides, working in the Professor's lab looks like fun! How could it be that terrible?"

"You don't understand. Not only do I have to do the rest of her minor duties up until Sunday, but also the chores she hasn't yet done _today_."

"So?"

"Today is toilet cleaning day…" he moaned. In his mind, the gushing sound of a toilet being flushed caused him to shiver. "And today was her turn…"

Bianca shivered along with him and the two swiveled their heads back around to face the field, mentally vowing never to speak of that again.

Meanwhile in the red corner, Cheren was beginning to grow anxious. But as always he showed no signs of it thanks to his continuous composure and calm. He checked his watch one more time and consulted his opponent, who was the entirety of the field away.

"Are you ready to get this underway?" he asked in not a yell but a slightly raised voice, "If we finish this battle in under four minutes, I can be back on schedule.

"Yeah, sure," Will called back before turning over his shoulder to Cell. "You ready to wipe the floor with this guy?"

"Sol solos." Cell nodded unwaveringly. _You don't even have to ask._

"Good. Onto the field, buddy."

Cell drifted over his Trainer's shoulders and onto the battlefield, glaring as menacingly as possible for such an adorable Pokémon. He was not left alone on the field for longer though.

"Snivy, come out." In a flash of white, Snivy appeared on the field before Cheren, hand prematurely positioned on his hips.

"Snoy," squeaked the Grass Snake, turning his head away. _This is what I'm fighting? From a beginning Trainer I was hoping at least for a Purrloin. I might even have settled for a Patrat…_

"Solo solosis!" _We'll see how confident you are when your dinky little vines are picking your teeth off of the ground, _Cell vehemently retorted, before vocally wondering in the language of Pokémon, _Do you even have teeth?_

"Snovey snoy." _If I did, I'd be using them to bite my thumb at you. Assuming I had thumbs as well._

That was the last straw.

Cell lurched forward with the intent of pummeling the uppity starter into the ground with a well-deserved Tackle. Snivy pompously stood his ground, knowing that no repercussion would come.

"Cell, that's enough." Will, with a hand extended, proved Snivy right. "Wait for the battle, buddy," he requested, "He'll get his."

Cell turned around and headed back, not too happy about it. "Sol solos…" _Fine. It's not worth my time anyway…_

During the brief lull, Cheren decided that that moment would be as good a moment as any to assess his enemy by use of his new Pokèdex, which he had yet to test out on anything but Snivy. Pointing at his retreating target, he keyed the activation button on the side.

**Solosis, the Cell Pokémon, **hummed Cheren's Pokèdex in the exact same artificial drawl as Will's, **Solosis and their evolutionary forms are among one of the youngest known species of Pokémon in the world, coming into being just before the creation of Pokémon Number 150, Mewtwo. Solosis were first created by Unovan scientists in 1995 after the failed Biosphere II experiment, which tested the viability of self-sustained environments. Solosis contain a central nucleus where such organs as the brain exist and control all functions of the Pokémon. Since their brain is so large, it can constantly project telepathic fields that maintain a gelatinous outer layer that can shield them from even the harshest environments, and even some attacks. Since their brain needed to be so large to achieve telekinetic capabilities, organs such as the stomach and intestines were foregone in their creation. For nutrients, Solosis feed off of solar radiation and uses the acidic liquid barrier around its body to dissolve foods. This Solosis is male and an estimated ten years of age. It possesses the ability Magic Guard and can use the moves Tackle, Psywave, Reflect and Rollout.**

"Magic Guard, eh?" Cheren deposited his Pokèdex back into his jacket pocket and quietly assessed Cell's ability and moveset. "Snivy has no attacks or possible strategies where I'd have to worry...So it isn't at all viable in this setting…Reflect will be somewhat bothersome but can be undone with Leer…"

Will cupped his hands of his mouth. "I thought _you _ask _me _if I was ready?" he yelled from across the field.

Looking back up, Cheren nodded to him and then to Valerie. "We're ready."

She nodded."Right then."

Valerie could barely contain her jubilee. For years she had wanted to shout out the formal beginning spiel of a Pokémon battle to a roaring crowd. Three onlookers plus a Tepig would have to be enough to satisfy her desires for now.

She cleared her voice and began to announcement. "The battle between William Grey of Icirrus City and Cheren Komori of Nuvema Town shall now commence! Each Trainer may use one and only one Pokémon! There will be no substitutions. The Trainer who's Pokémon manages to knock out the opposing Trainer's Pokémon first will be declared the winner! Red corner, are you ready?"

"As ever," said Cheren.

"Blue corner, are you ready?"

"Ready," Will said, determination flaring in his eyes. _First battle. Time to make it count._

Val reached into her pocket and pulled out a Unovan quarter. She folded her hand into something of a fist and placed it on her thumb. "Call it!" she declared, flicking the coin into the air.

"Heads!" called Will, fists clenched in sheer concentration.

Timed seemed to slow as the coin dropped into Val's palm. She opened up her fingers and waved a hand towards Will's corner of the field. "It is heads. The blue corner shall receive the first move. Let the battle begin!"

And just like that, it was on.

Will gave Cheren no quarter (pun intended) and went immediately onto the offensive. "Alright Cell, let's show these rookies how we do it back in Kanto! Psywave!"

"Solo so!" Radiant rainbow lights began to flicker around Cell as his eyes shined with a searing white brightness. On Cheren's side of the field, a small disturbance in the dust around Snivy's feet caused the tiny Grass-Type to studiously examine the ground around him. Nothing seemed out of place. He pompously folded his arms and smirked back at Cell.

"Sneh-heh-he…" the Snivy chortled. _Stupid blob of-whoa!_

"Snoi! Snoivi snoi!" Snivy was taken completely by surprise by the latent effects of Cells Psywave. Flailing his tiny arms and legs, Snivy was slowly lifted off of the ground and into the air, eventually drifting above his own Trainer's head. Cheren, however, remained undaunted.

"Relax, Snivy. Use Leer," Cheren nonchalantly ordered.

Snivy had no plan of his own, and decided for now to listen to his Trainer. Easing his muscles and keeping very still, Snivy managed to twist his neck with great effort to look directly into Cell's pulsating eyes. Psywave was beginning to restrict Snivy's movements and lock him in a barrier of stasis. Soon he would have been smashed headlong into the ground by Cell's destructive telekinetic power, but Cheren's plan saw to eliminating that.

Narrowing his snakelike eyes, Snivy gave Cell a fearsome death stare. Even with his empowering dislike of the arrogant starter Pokémon, Cell was shaken by the piercing stare and his psychic grip loosened on Snivy. His options now greatly increased, Cheren struck.

"Now use Vine Whip."

Two slender green vines snaked out of the crest on Snivy's neck and lashed across the battlefield, striking the still prone Cell and sending him rolling back through the air. The whip-like crack from the contact of the vines made even Bianca and Malcolm, who were several yards away, cringe.

The effects of Psywave now completely negated, Snivy dropped back to the ground, landing pleasantly on both feet. Will glowered at Cheren and his Pokémon likeness: old strategies didn't seem to be working well.

"Hang in there, Cell!" encouraged Will, "Get in there and use Rollout!"

"Solo sol!" Cell's anti-gravitational fields halted his backwards roll and then went into reverse, dropping him to the ground and sending him charging forward like a locomotive. His entire body blurred into a turquoise wheel with a white center headed straight for Snivy. Nothing, so it seemed, at least nothing Cheren or Snivy currently possessed, could stop it.

_"'An object in motion must stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force'" _Cheren recited to himself, strategizing, _"For now, I'll make sure that Snivy isn't that force." _

"Now, Snivy, use Vine Whip on the ground. Propel yourself upwards."

Snivy's vines snaked out of his neck and harshly slapped the ground, propelling the Grass Snake into the air, higher than any jump it would normally have been able to accomplish would send it. With no target, Cell skidded harmlessly past where Snivy has stood and then back to his corner, empty handed.

"Quickly, Vine Whip again. Now at the Solosis," nonchalantly ordered Cheren, his hands now resting in his jacket pockets. He appreciated Will for not only keeping him on schedule but for also going at a leisurely pace that he could keep up with, but now things were becoming cumbersome.

"Cell, use Reflect! Hurry!" urged Will, feeling adversely to what Cheren felt. His palms were sweating up a storm as Cheren and Snivy voraciously forced Cell onto the defensive.

Cheren had timed Snivy's next attack perfectly, as the rapidly tiring Cell Pokémon was just emerging from its rolled-up form and had its back to Cheren. Hopefully, his barriers would come up in time.

Hopefully.

"Lo siiiiiis!" Faster than Will had ever seen him do before, Cell executed a three-sixty turn and righted himself in an instant. Once again his eyes began to glow and a shimmering holographic box took shape around Cell, just as Snivy's vicious vines lashed down on him.

* * *

**Voila! New chapter a la mode! But you'll have to get the ice cream yourself...sorry. Budget cuts and stuff...The budget committe also informed me that I'd have to make this chapter a little shorter, but I promise that Trainer Naps LLC will produce a longer chapter next week! All one of my employees (me) are working around the clock!**

**Looks like Will isn't having as easy a time with Cheren as he thought he would. Can experience outweigh knowledge? Or will other factors come into play? Find out next time on:**

_**Chapter 4: Will Sets the Mood!**_

**Not much else to say...pretty "meh" week for me. So the Reader Question is something a bit more simple, yet it has a bit more potential: what was your favorite/most memorable moment while playing Pokemon? It could be an encounter, a glitch, a funny mishap, a battle with a friend, anything memorable! **

**Please drop a review, and I'll catch you next week!**


	5. Chapter 4: Setting the Mood

**Men much wiser than I have said through the ages, "All roads lead home." I do not disagree with them, but when contemplating the exact meaning of the question, one must ask, "What about the ones that lead you _away_?"**

**-Excerpt from "The Hero of Unova, a biography by Lucina Hale-Grey**

* * *

Juniper handed Rosaline the much anticipated cup of coffee and joined her old colleague at the small ovular desk in the Professor's private office. The quarters also served as her bedroom but one would have been unable to tell.

The foldout cot that she slept on whenever she wasn't pulling an all-nighter in the lab (or was asleep elsewhere because she pulled an all-nighter in the lab) was folded neatly into the wall and hidden behind a potted rose bush that helped make her office seem more homey and comfortable. Other than that small detail and her closet, which contained very few articles of clothing to start with, not a soul would be able to tell Juniper slept in that very room.

Most, if not all, important lab material was kept down in the lab itself so that Juniper or her hired hands wouldn't have to venture up and down the stairs to retrieve necessary items during procedures and experiments. Juniper only kept valuables and personal effects in her sanctum, the most valuable and irreplaceable of which were locked within a hidden safe.

Others, such as medals and photographs from her childhood and early adulthood were on display, mostly framed on the walls. Copies of her bachelor's degree, master's degree, PhD and doctorate hung framed over the small wooden desk at the end of the room.

The desk itself had belonged to her father, the previous owner of the lab. It was made of wood from a juniper tree and had been a joking gift from Cedric Juniper's friend and colleague, Professor Samuel Oak of Kanto. It was a musty old thing, but a desk was a desk. Juniper kept it around for another reason, however.

Aurea saw the desk as a sort of torch that her father had passed down to her when she had inherited the lab. When sitting behind it, whether it was to review paperwork or sneak in a quick nap or any other reason, it made her surely and truly feel like the rightful successor of the laboratory.

It made her feel at home.

Anyway, she and Rosaline simultaneously took a sip of their beverages and sighed in content. No one made a better cup of coffee than a scientist, and that was a fact. With all the lengthy work days and marathon all-nighters that members of the field frequently had to pull, they (no pun intended) had refined coffee making down to a science.

All productive activities within the scientific community, regardless of the branch, came down to a question. That question was, "How many unhealthy things can I cram into this cup of brown liquid that will make me stay awake longer?"

And when they had the precious luxury of time to make it taste sweet, they'd be damned if they didn't use it on the bitter concoction that was the end result of their anti-drowsiness cure. With her lab hands and the new Trainers out behind the lab battling, Aurea had been provided with just that time.

Rosaline lowered her mug to the table and dabbed her upper lip with a napkin. "You've always made the best coffee, Aurea."

"I've been told that we Junipers have a knack for it," she blithely responded, taking another sip.

Rosaline sighed, folding her hands around her cup. "I'd like to thank you again," she said quite humbly, "For my son. I…he's just…"

"Rosaline, please." Juniper raised he hand to stop her friend, who she thought very highly of, from breaking down. "You don't need to thank me any more than you already have. Life's dealt him a bad hand and he's been playing the best he can. Fate and everything else playing against him just seems to have a deck full of full houses."

Rosaline's thankful face softened to a frank smirk as she cocked an eyebrow at Juniper's analogy. The younger woman held her hands up in defense.

"I've never played cards, okay? Always meant to learn."

"Yes, well…you know how seriously repaying debts are to my husband and I. I can't let you sacrifice so much just for Will's sake."

Juniper politely nodded along with what her friend was saying. She tried to seem as understanding as possible while still being as baffled as she was at how Rosaline referred to Cassius Grey, William's father.

Especially after he abandoned the family five years ago and left Will with the deep emotional scars that the young man unfortunately had to bear. Technically, Rosaline's titling of Cassius was correct since they had never had a formal divorce. But to hear her use such a loving and sacred term on a man who had done such a heartless thing was just…it was just unthinkable to Aurea.

"Rosaline, you and your son are repaying this 'debt' tenfold," assured Juniper, using air quotes to reflect the insignificance of Rosaline's qualm. "William is heading out into the region as my assistant. He'll be collecting new and valuable research data with every new Pokémon he meets, I can call on him to run errands for me, and I even get a little more name recognition! And you referred him to me, so that means you've both repaid me." She reclined back in her chair. "If anything, that means I owe you."

Rosaline shook her head, denying it. "Aurea…"

_KLAAAAAAAAANK!_

Both heads swiveled at the sound of a loud crash. On the sill of the closest window, a clay flowerpot containing a newly planted daisy had fallen to the ground and shattered, earthen soil spilling out into a filthy little pile. And it didn't take either women too long at all to determine the culprit.

Oshawott, his tiny face pressed up against the window, stared intently outward at whatever action was taking place down below. Juniper observed his tail, which was excitedly waving back and forth, and cracked the case.

"You need to be more careful, Osha…wott?" Juniper reeled slightly at an even more pressing revelation. "Wait, h-how did you get out of your Pokèball? And why are you up here?"

"Wat!" squeaked the Sea Otter, his face not leaving the glass. He was focused intently on something happening on the outside.

"I think I know what happened," claimed Rosaline.

"Wha- oh. Oh, okay." Juniper grinned at her older colleague as they both reached the same conclusion. Great minds thought alike, or so it seemed.

"Oshawott, are you watching the battle?" Juniper inquired, her voice climbing an octave or two in the way most females did when trying to gauge information.

"Watt watt!" This time, Oshawott managed to tear his gaze from the window and acknowledged the two women before it immediately became glued back to the glass. Gingerly, Juniper's smile turned into a frown. She sighed.

"Oshawott's been through a lot," explained Juniper, leaning in so that he could not hear, "Typically, a new set of Trainers come to receive Pokémon every month or so. Sometimes sooner. After all three of each starter have been taken, I request a new set from their respective breeders. Most sets of three are gone with each new wave of Trainers each month." Morosely staring into the cup, Juniper slowly stirred her coffee in a cumbersome circle. "Oshawott has been here for six months."

"That's so sad," Rosaline genuinely lamented.

Juniper nodded. "I know. He's such a spirited young Pokémon, but…that's just why. He's prone to fits of..._excitement_."

"I think I see what you mean."

Aurea elaborated. "You see, there was a girl among the trio that came along when Oshawott was first up for grabs. Her parents had reached out to me not too unlike how you had : their daughter was beginning to become more and more introverted and isolated and they wanted to send her on a Pokémon journey to break her out of her shell. I recommended Oshawott for her since Snivy would have looked down on her shyness and Tepig had a bit too much energy."

"And then things went unexpectedly?" inquired Rosaline, assuming ahead of time that they would.

"Precisely," confirmed Juniper, "I let the girl pick first to make sure she'd get the one she wanted. She picked Oshawott, naturally, and the little guy could barely contain his enthusiasm. He had been picked first! That was any Pokémon's dream!" Juniper let out a gloomy sigh as the story reached its turning point. "Far too excited to know any better, Oshawott let out a celebratory Water Gun. Squirted the right off of her feet and sent her running from my lab, tears streaming down her face. Eventually, word got out about Oshawott's impulsive side and the poor guy got a bad rep. Whenever a group of three Trainers would come through and one was left with Oshawott, they'd opt out. And so ever since, he's been here."

"That's so sad…" commented Rosaline once again.

"Amen to that." Juniper continued to forlornly stir her coffee, not looking up. "And at this rate, it doesn't seem that Oshawott will ever get picked. Reputation aside, new Trainers like to pick Pokémon that are fresh off the farm, so to speak. It's the sad truth that the older the adoptee, the less chances they have of getting adopted.

Rosaline nodded. "If only you could a-"An idea popped into her head and her frown disappeared. Leaning in suddenly towards her friend's ear, Rosaline whispered her unfiltered plan to Aurea. Rosaline's devious smile quickly became mutual.

"Rosaline, you are just proving to be an evil genius lately, aren't you?" Juniper jovially remarked, lounging back with one arm draped over the chair and the other clutching her coffee mug.

"The thought of enslaving the human race with by use of my scientific expertise has crossed my mind once or twice, yes," said Rosaline, completely straight-faced but kidding nonetheless. "But, in all seriousness, none of this subterfuge between you and I has been for anything else than Will's, and your, benefit."

Juniper grinned, raising her mug to toast the sentiment. "Well, then, it looks like I owe you _two _after this."

Rosaline nodded, and the two women took a sip of their coffee, their eyes swiveling deviously towards Oshawott, who was still intently watching the ongoing fight between Will and Cheren. Little did he know that if Juniper and Rosaline's newest plot went according to print, he would no longer be forced onto the sidelines of such battles.

…

Lashed by Snivy's vines, Cell's Reflect shattered into a thousand sparkling granules of light at first contact. The tactic seemed to have softened the blow, thus preventing Cell from suffering the full effects of the attack, but he was certainly in pain nonetheless. His bodiless form seemed to loll to the side and his eyes had adopted a weary squint. Cell was nearing the edge of his rocker.

Mal furrowed his brown, deep in thought. Will and Cheren's battle had been an object of great interest to a studious mind such as his. Pokémon spoke to him, a biologist, in a certain way that they did not to his sister, a machinist. Subtle cues and behavioral reactions in Pokémon could tip Malcolm off towards to revelations much more significant than the clues with which he was provided. It was a talent he had simply honed from countless hours of study.

"I'd have thought Will would take the advantage here seeing as he's had his Pokémon for the longest…" he mumbled to himself, "But Snivy seems to be performing better than the Solosis…after seeing Cheren's competence as a Trainer, it must have accepted him and discarded any reluctance to act…"

"What's that?" Bianca addressed him quizzically.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. Just wondering about the battle."

"Why not just enjoy it?" she blithely retorted. Malcolm couldn't help but be strangely warmed by the blonde's virtue; such a thing was hard to come by these days.

"Well, since I'm a scientist it's kind of force of habit to think about these things in-depth," explained Mal, perpetrating another force of habit, hand motions, to get across his point in a seemingly sporadic manner. "Since Will has been Cell's Trainer for over ten years, I'd assumed he would have the upper hand. But Cheren seems to be gaining ground over him and…well, I can't seem to figure out why."

"They're both good Trainers, but Cheren is really good. At least, I know that personally. He always won his battles in school and he never got anything less than an 'A' on his tests and quizzes." Bianca looked disconsolately down at her lap, sighing. "I always wished I was more like him…"

"Pig, pigpig!" Tepig discharged a whistling blast of steam from its nostrils before leaping into Bianca's lap and nuzzling her stomach affectionately. _Don't get so down! _ he said in the language of Pokémon, _You're Bianca, and that's good enough!_

Bianca giggled, wrapping Tepig up in her arms. "But it's no time to be a Negative-Nancy! There's a battle to enjooooooy~!"

"Who are you rooting for?" wondered Malcolm.

"Well, let's see…" Bianca thoughtfully tapped her chin, "Oooooh, how am I ever going to be able to watch a battle if I can't pick a favorite!? I want Cheren to win, but I don't want Will to lose!"

"He'd better not lose!" chirped Cassie, standing up on the bleachers and shaking a fist at her Will. "Go, big brother!"

"Reminds me of my sister," mumbled Malcolm.

"That's sweet!" remarked Bianca.

"Yeah, except she never rooted for me…"

Deliberation and debate may have ruled the crowd (if you could even call it that) on the bleachers, but the combatants had no such time to think. At least, Will didn't.

It made no sense: the more feverously he thought and planned to counteract Cheren's tranquil dominance of the battle. If Cheren was an immovable object, Will was going to have to become an unstoppable force, giving the raven-haired Trainer no time to collect his own thoughts. But for whatever reason, that strategy wasn't working at all.

Cassie's shout of confidence installed a new urgency within him. It reminded him of what this was: his first battle! Literally speaking it meant nothing to his future, but was like a red mark on an invisible portfolio. He had to win for himself. For Cell, too. He couldn't let an opportunity the likes of a first battle go to waste.

"Cell, use Rollout again!" he ordered, this time hoping for different results. But he didn't hope against hope that these results would randomly come about. Changing nothing of his strategy would change nothing of the outcome. If the quick thesis he had whipped up worked, it would hopefully mean a turning of the tables.

For now amidst the cacophony of doubtful shouts within his mind, among all of the logistics telling him that he could _not _do this…Will had a plan. A desperate, desperate plan.

Cheren honestly found himself surprised. Not bafflingly so but enough to give him something to think about Will's methods. Will was much smarter than someone who would just perform the same action over and over again hoping for different results. Or at least, that's what he had thought.

Regardless of whether or not Will would plan on trying something different, Cheren planned on winning. "Rollout again? So be it. Snivy, use Vine Whip to dodge again." If Will was figuring that repeat strategies would provide new outcomes, Cheren would prove him wrong.

Sharing his Trainer's calm, Snivy whipped out his vines and with them slapped the ground, propelling himself high into the air. It was then that Will seized his chance and sprung his trap.

"Cell, stop rolling and use Tackle!" he cried, a bead of sweat trickling down his face, "Use the momentum to knock Snivy out of the air!"

Cheren's eyes expanded to the size of saucer plates. Will's strategy was radical and if it had been suggested to him on a setting other than the battlefield, he would have dismissed it as bogus. But Cheren's book smarts translated not only to strategy but to academics. And he knew in an instant that the sudden transferal of momentum from a Solosis affected by gravity to one bound not by such a rule would create an object in voracious motion.

And an object in motion stayed in motion, until it comes into contact with an outside force.

And now, Snivy was that outside force.

Breaking from the rapid roll, Cell bounced into the air like a rubber ball on a ballistic trajectory towards Snivy. Its snide sneer vanished slowly from its face as the green blur gained a lot of distance in a very short amount of time.

"Snooooooooooi!"

Cell barreled into Snivy and knocked him out of the sky. In fact, both of them crashed to the ground together, as Snivy was not nearly heavy enough to deflect or even stop Cell's rocketing roll. With Cell pressing at his back, Snivy belly flopped into the ground and emitted a pain squeak as Cell's full weight pressed down on him, plus that of the momentum gained from both the launch and the fall. Only now did Cell bounce off of Snivy and resumed hovering, albeit dizzily, over the ground.

Will's heart skipped a beat. "Cell, are you alright, buddy!?"

"Solo so…" _J-just a little tipsy…_Cell swayed a bit. Had he a stomach and undigested food within it, vertigo may have coerced him to throw it up.

Val rushed as close to the field as possible and nearly toppled over trying to right herself after a sudden stop. Her toes pressed into the ground and her arms flailed wildly in an effort to stop a face plant onto the field, which in an official League match such as a Gym battle, would have resulted in the battle being ended with no winner declared. Val managed to reclaim her posture and examined Snivy. Other than the occasional twitch from his shoulder blades, the Grass Snake wasn't moving at all.

"Snivy is unable to battle!" she declared, waving an open hand towards Will, "Which means that William Grey from Vir-er, I mean, Icirrus City is the winner!"

Will was far to ecstatic to notice Valerie's close call with mentioning his birthplace instead of his current hometown. The jubilant teen ran to his Pokémon, jumping and enveloping Cell in an affectionate hug.

"We did it!" was all he could manage amidst his enthusiasm.

"Solo solo!" answered Cell. _Wasn't I great!? I- _Cell squirmed, _Could you ease up? You're squishing me._

Sighing in mild discontent, Cheren recalled Snivy to his Pokèball and addressed the capsule as if it were Snivy himself. "This is only one battle, Snivy. It means nothing to our League ranking. Don't worry; it was my fault." He looked thoughtfully at the rejoicing Will. "I simply could not put it past me that something so…_unorthodox _would work. Fret not; it won't happen again."

Glancing up briefly, Will noticed Cheren's aside to his Pokèball. It wouldn't be very befitting of him to continue to celebrate dead-center in the battlefield and seem like he was gloating. Cradling the wounded Cell in his arms, Will walked over to Cheren to congratulate him.

"You really had me going there for a while," admitted Will, causing Cheren to look up in surprise, "I thought for a second there that I was gonna lose!"

"Solo sis…" mumbled Cell, his Trainer's flattery not very inspiring in his own opinion.

Cheren adjusted his glasses. "Well, that was the plan." Will chuckled at first but then realized the humorless intent in Cheren's statement. "But you sudden change in tactics was what turned the tide in your favor, surely and truly. What was your process of thinking?"

Will shrugged. "No 'process', really. I just thought that since a strategy wasn't working since, punch for punch you've definitely got me beat in that department, so I just didn't go with a strategy."

Cheren's brow twitched. It took him a moment to sponge in and decode what he had just heard. Even then it made no sense. "So you…you had no plan?"

"Nope. Not really. I was just throwing stuff against the wall to see what stuck." He smiled rather showily, repaying Cheren's prior cockiness. "Apparently, this did."

"S-so, you just winged it?" Cheren asked again, apparently still baffled.

"Yup. No plan. None. Whatsoever."

"So your victory was-"

"An accident? Possibly."

Words had long since left Cheren, with his questions and retorts to Will resulting only from confusion. He said nothing more; rather, he simply turned around and walked in the other direction. He didn't seem to be trying to make a statement to Will: Cheren was just finished there.

But, he stopped. "Will," he said evenly while still facing the other direction, "I want you to promise me something."

"S-sure?" Will was unsure what he was going to ask for.

"You mentioned you thought that, for a moment, you might lose." Cheren paused, quite dramatically, Will might have added. "Next time we battle, promise me you won't doubt yourself. That way, I won't get anything less than your best."

And with that he walked away, headed towards Juniper's lab. Will presumed that he'd heal up his Pokémon to showing shape and then head to the party his family was throwing for him.

_Can't have a celebration without "Life-of-the-Party Cheren," now can we? _

Will chuckled to himself as Bianca and Cassie skittered up next to him, still holding hands. Bianca had to dig her heals into the ground to stop their excited momentum. Before he could even address them he felt his sister's arms wrap around his legs and Bianca's around his shoulders. He cursed puberty as the latter's touch caused his cheeks to grow warm and red.

"I'm so proud of you, big brother!" squeaked Cassie from beneath him.

"Me too!" cheered Bianca, backing off slightly so that Will could get a good look at her round, sunny face. "I've never seen anyone beat Cheren before! That's really hard to do!"

"Uh…th-thanks?" By now, Will had received the distinct impression of Bianca's bubbly attitude and friendly regard towards everyone, but her sudden embrace had come across as somewhat of a surprise nonetheless.

_Looks like Cheren isn't the only one who needs to learn to deal with surprises, _Will wryly noted to himself.

"So, do you wanna come with Cheren and me?" offered Bianca, folding her hands in excited anticipation, "He told you that his parents are throwing a 'going-away' party for him, right?"

Will nervously scratched his head. "Erm, well, there are some things I wanted to do after the battle. I think before I do anything else I should go see my mom and the professor."

"Well, as it so turns out, 'the professor' thought she'd come and see you."

Will whipped around. Standing near where Cheren had stood in the red corner during their battle was Juniper. She was beaming proudly at Will as if he were her own child, but impressed at his victory either way.

"P-professor? D-did you see-"

"Of course I did," she answered, cutting him off.

"A-and?"

"And? _And_ I don't know why you're so nervous!"

Will shrugged. "Well, there was something I wanted to discuss with you, and…"

"_And _I think it's time we stopped piling new things on with _and _have a chat, you and I," said the professor, looping an arm around his shoulders. "Why don't you give Cell to Mal and Val so they can heal him while we talk?"

Nodding, Will reached into his pocket. Cell recognized what he was doing and squirmed, though his injuries didn't allow for much resistance. Cell hated it when Will put him into his Pokèball and would always put up a valiant opposition whenever Will tried to put him in. But after the battle, Cell found that little energy remained and he'd just have to go along with it.

"Solos os…" he protested weakly.

"It's for you own good," Will assured him. He tapped the button on the Pokèball, causing Cell to vanish with a flash of red light. He turned and handed the ball off to Valerie, who had been closest, and she and her brother headed off. Will hoped that Cell would not be forced into the middle of their bickering.

"Now," said Juniper, leading him around to the building's front lawn, "Let's have that chat, shall we?"

…

Noon had since passed on that day and the sun was beginning its slow decline across the west sky. It had passed behind Juniper's place and taken with it the golden sunshine it spread over the lawn, now pressing against the buildings back and causing a long shadow to stretch across the grass, enshrouding Will and Professor Juniper as they walked.

It was a bit cooler here than where Will and Cheren had battled, and Will welcomed this refreshing change in atmosphere. Not only did it allow for his body to cool down but for his mind to relax too. Better that it did for his talk with Juniper.

Speaking of whom, the young Professor was taking her time as well as great care to ensure that Will did not feel pressured by her in any way. Her job was to get him on his journey, yes but not pushing him. Rather she hoped to attain this goal by providing him with gentle nudges and doing her part to be as supportive as possible.

He could not take the ambiguity any longer. Finally, Will broke the silence as the two strolled along in front of the lab.

"I'm not sure about this journey," he said plainly, laying his platform out quite plainly for the Professor to interpret as she would.

"I can understand that," responded Juniper, nodding.

Will frowned. "It's just…ugh, I don't know!" Will hands flared up in frustration with his indecision.

Juniper placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. She looked sincerely into his blue eyes. "Will, I know things have been tough lately and I only want to help you. I've been through all of these things before too, you know. Losing a parent. Being rejected from a college. But I got through it." Juniper noticed a considerable slump in Will's shoulder and an overall plummeting of his poise. "I'm not here to give you the 'When I Was Your Age' speech, Will. I know that doesn't work.

"If only everyone else did…" he mumbled, kicking a small stone across the grass.

Juniper chewed at the corner of her lip. It almost felt selfish to admit but her chief goal was to ensure that Will made up his mind in favor of going on the journey. Yes, she would benefit from his leaving on the trip, but it was mainly for him.

Rosaline had planned this as a therapeutic venture. After his recent misfortunes as well as resurfacing childhood traumas, she had seen it a good idea for Will to embark on a Pokémon journey. He'd be able to see the world, get more in touch with himself, and maybe even meet some new friends to help him through the rough patch in his life.

Plus, Juniper understood his pain on multiple levels. She too had lost a parent at a young age, albeit in a different manor than Will had. But from what she knew of Rosaline's husband, Cassius Grey was essentially dead to Will anyhow.

And her college situation hadn't been much different from Will's either. Ever since girlhood her dream had been to research and eventually uncover the answer as to how and why Pokémon at large had come into existence. Four prestigious colleges had rejected her entrance thesis on Pokémon origins before she was finally accepted into Striation University.

She knew how fragile a person in Will's (and once her own) position was and decided to approach tentatively.

"Will…I've been through some hard times too," she opened with.

Will sighed. "Here we go…"

"No, no! I _promise _this isn't the speech!" urged Juniper, sheepishly grinning and waving her hands in a warding-off gesture.

"Fine. Continue."

"Right." Along with her advice, Juniper resumed the slow pace across the lawn with Will following alongside her. Evidently, he too felt an ease come across his body when walking even with another person. "You're in a bit of a funk now. Am I wrong?"

"Definitely not," Will admitted a little glumly. Amidst his stubborn self-indulgence in the days prior when confronted about the problem by his mother, therapists, neighbors, et cetera, he had said the exact same thing as a sign he wanted to be left alone. But now, after all that had happened in such a short span of time, he almost felt ashamed not to elaborate or allow Juniper in.

"And you feel like only you should be able to fix this problem. Am I wrong again?"

"You're two for two, Professor," admitted Will.

Juniper held her head a little higher and grinned. "Well, what do you know? The Professor knows a thing or two?" She eased the joking to a more personable level. "Will, you won't know the kind of things that a journey can do for a person until you actually go on one. You've known Cell for what, ten years now? What if I told you that you haven't even _scratched the surface _of the bond that you two can forge!"

"Only scratched the surface, huh?" remarked Will, brushing his right hand up and down his left arm to dispel goose bumps. Nuvema Town was beginning to cool what with the setting sun, but Juniper's proposals were beginning to send shivers down his spine.

"Yup," affirmed Juniper, nodding, "That Pokèdex of yours is only the first step. There are literal hundreds of Pokémon you've yet to meet. Literal _thousands_ more you've probably yet to hear of." She stopped her even gait, hands on her hips. "Your story is yet to be written, William Grey. And only you hold the pen."

Will stopped too and cocked an eyebrow at his mentor. "You're not very good at analogies, are you, Professor?"

"Like mother, like son," she muttered sardonically under her breath.

"Huh?"

"Nothing," she chuckled, dropping a hand on Will's head and messing up his hair like his big sister used to do before he surpassed her in height. "You're a good kid, Will. That's why I want you working for me. Things you and I _couldn't_ accomplish together would be the shorter list of the two."

Nodding, Will pulled out his Pokèdex and held it before his eyes. It was no bigger than the average library book and to anyone else might seem like just another piece of tech. But to Will it was much larger than actual size or scope. A trust was imbued in the little red box. A trust that he was unsure whether or not he should take.

Will placed the Pokèdex back into his pocket and looked back up at Juniper. "Professor, I'm not saying no, I'm just…not saying yes yet. This is all so sudden and new to me, and, well, I didn't exactly come to Nuvema today ready to become an assistant to Unova's premier Pokémon researcher." He grimly smirked. "Truth be told, I came prepared to tell some overpaid shrink that he could stuff it. But I can honestly say that I prefer what happened here today over that. I met some new friends. I was showed the door to a whole new world and had it opened for me. It's just…"

"You're not sure if you should take the first steps or not?" guessed Juniper.

"Ding-ding-ding. That's three, Professor. Looks like you win a prize."

Juniper giggled at the teen's sense of humor, prevalent even in darker times. "Well, come morning tomorrow, maybe it'll be a new research assistant." She patted him on the back and swiveled his body with hers, directing him towards the lab. "Your mother is taking you and your sister out to eat at a local restaurant. After that, she's arranged for the three of you to stay the night here. I'm not going to try and sway you any more than I already have, but I just ask that you sleep on it. Maybe give me an answer in the morning?"

"Sounds good," agreed Will. He tapped his fingers together nervously, unsure how to end the pep talk. "Um…well, I'd better not keep my mother waiting."

"I agree. You three have fun. I might be busy through the night, so I might not see you until morning." Juniper gave him a reassuring smile, and then a gentle shove towards the lab. "Just sleep on it. Don't worry too much about it now."

Will nodded shakily and headed for the door. Initially he struggled between facing Juniper and the lab, his destination, but eventually made the wise decision on focusing on where he was going. After, of course, he tripped on a knot of grass and nearly sprained his ankle. It was from these unsure gestures that made Juniper sure that Will in fact _was _worrying too much about his decision.

Juniper silently cursed herself as the door swung open and Will stepped inside. She had jinxed him into placing it foremost on his mind. He'd now most likely be spending most of what was supposed to be a fun night with his family thinking long and hard about it.

But, it was an important issue. Important not to Juniper but to Will. Whether he realized it or not, going away for a while with just his Pokémon and opening himself up to a whole new world of possibilities would do wonders for him. It would knock him clean out of his funk. For that at least, Juniper was glad she had given him time to think.

Sighing to herself, Juniper reached into the right pocket of her lab coat and removed a single Pokèball. Even though it remained motionless, she could sense the eagerness and angst emanating from the capsule.

The Pokèball (and the Pokémon it contained) she had hoped to be a touching point in her conversation with Will. But she had been fully prepared to face a situation where, based on Will's current thinking and reactions, would be unfair to press him about. And so after noting his hesitance and lack of clarity, she had abstained and decided to wait.

"You're being awful greedy lately, aren't you, Aurea," she said in a slight soliloquy, sticking the Pokèball back into her pocket, turning around and heading back into the lab herself. Day would turn to night not after long and she'd have to get started on preparing her own dinner.

But her mind and the Pokèball in her pocket weighed even more heavily than before as she strolled back inside. For tomorrow, she would have to ask yet another favor of William Grey.

* * *

**I know I wrote this chapter a while ago, but if it seems that there were some emotional parts in this chapter, those probably slipped in during editing today. I have a very emotional experience earlier and, well, it made me feel great and kinda crummy at the same time. Suffice it to say that I'm now feeling better than ever and look forward to continuing this story as well as all my other endeavors! I've got a week off and I plan to use it! So stick around for:**

_**Chapter 5: Will's Decision**_

**In which we find out the MIND-BLOWING answer of whether or not Will shall embark on a journey and start his journey, or just say "No" to Juniper and end the story at 5 chapters. You guys are lucky April Fools was ten days ago...had it been next week, I might've pulled something like that...**

**Anyway, we'll also find out some of Will's inner thoughts about this whole thing, as well as Rosaline and Juniper's master plan involving Oshawott. So stay tuned!**

**BIG BRAWL NEWS! Five new characters have been officially announced for the new Smash Bros. game. I think we all saw Zero Suit, Sheik and Yoshi coming, and that's great and all, but we have two surprises. Charizard will be appearing as a standalone character (no Ivysaur or Squirtle :() and the newest member of the Smash Bros. family, Geninja will be appearing as a playable character! While this is awesome, as I LOVE seeing new character like Little Mac and Megaman, I guess this means no Mewtwo...*sigh* But I'm still pumped, and this leads into my Reader Question!**

**Reader Question is: what Pokemon would YOU like to see playable in new Smash Bros. titles? Do you want to see the return of old favorites like Mewtwo and Pichu? Or new Pokemon? **

**Leave your answer in a review, which I really hope you leave, and I'll catch ya next week!**


	6. Chapter 5: Will's Decision

**On that day, two words would change the world forever.**

**-Excerpt from _The Hero of Unova_, a biography by Lucina Hale-Grey**

* * *

Will let out a contented sigh and flopped down onto the small musty couch. After a long, emotionally toiling day, and a filling meal, Will and Cell were ready for good night's sleep and nothing else. The Greys had been invited to stay at Juniper's laboratory for the night instead of driving all the way back to nearby Accumula Town to rent a motel room. The building sported one guest room on its upper floors, which Rosaline and Cassie slept in with Will volunteering to sleep on an old couch in the lab's back room. It was frigidly cold and stank of dust but Will did not mind; those were the ideal sleeping conditions for a person who spent much of their lives up in northern Unova.

Minus the dust. It seemed that Minccino rarely ventured back that far into the lab.

After his chat with Juniper, Rosaline had taken Will and his sister out to a local restaurant where Will had ordered a cheeseburger and a very large dish of fries to contemplate the Professor's proposition over. It was commonplace for Will to think over stressful situations whilst eating food. Quite evidently from his skinny frame it was not that he had an eating disorder, but the young man was more at ease when he had a full belly.

Rosaline had noticed his somber demeanor during what was meant to be a happy occasion between a family and had otherwise let him be; normally she would have been prodding him to cheer up as mothers tend to do. But she could tell now that her son was not upset, rather, undecided. She decided to let him think.

And even now, a couple hours down the road, Will was thinking. He was deep, deep in thought.

"I just don't know, buddy," said Will, laying face-up with his hands behind his head on the couch.

Cell, who had been laying in a piled up blanket on the floor, looked up at his human counterpart. "Solo so?"

"This 'journey' business," clarified Will, "I…I want to go, but I feel like I'm not ready. You know?"

Cell nodded instantly; he and his Trainer rarely disagreed, but never in situations where Will could not make up his mind. As a Pokémon with exceptionally prominent psychic abilities and Will's Pokémon of ten years at that, he understood rather well what Will felt even if he didn't exactly understand his dilemma.

"Everyone else who went on their journey when it was time went through all that prep, but…I didn't."

It was mandatory for up-and-coming Trainers to attend a month long instructional course on the ways of the traveling Pokémon Trainer before being authorized by the League to receive their license. Will had attended that course and been certified, but…but that had been before his father left.

Needless to say, the journey never happened.

"So lo losis," urged Cell. _You're prepared! Remember all of that training we did together?_

"I know! I mean, we _did _the training, but…that was for the old me. A Will that doesn't exist anymore." Will let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm different now. Some advice I receive back then won't work for me now."

"Losis," Cell reminded him. _You've got me!_

Will chuckled. "I know, buddy. You wouldn't let anything happen to me."

"Lo solo!" he affirmed.

"And it's not just me anymore," thought Will aloud, his right hand drifting slowly to the pocket of his pajama pants. In it he had kept the Pokèdex given to him by Professor Juniper. Even in a place as secure as a laboratory in a town as quiet as Nuvema, he was not about to let such a valuable and coveted piece of tech out of his sight even for a second.

Will ran a hand down the slender edge of the Pokèdex, his fingers sliding down the smooth edges and rising over each button or bump. Once he reached the bottom, he reached back to the top and pressed the "On" button. His face was bathed in a green light as the Pokèdex's home screen displayed itself on the top of the two.

"Just look at this thing! To think that Juniper would entrust such a valuable piece of equipment to _me _of all people!" Will scrolled through the Pokèdex's index of Pokémon information which was comprised of an ascending and descending row of rectangular slots. According to a small tab at the bottom of the screen, two of seven hundred and eighteen. "There's so much more I have to learn! And look, I've already learned things about _you_ that I never knew before!"

Navigating to one of Will's two completed Pokèdex entries (the other being Snivy), he opened up one of Juniper's "hidden features" to an entire section comprised of every scientific discovery made about the Solosis species organized by date.

"Here: June 16th, 1997. Solosis are discovered to possess the ability to mate and reproduce telepathically. Who could have known that!?" exclaimed Will.

"Sis so…" mumbled Cell coyly as he turned away, not thrilled about his Trainer's "Fun-Fact" of choice.

"I learned more about two Pokémon in one day than I did in years of study," pondered Will, relaxing his arms to his sides and switching off the Pokèdex, "Just think about what I could learn about the other seven hundred and sixteen over the course of a few years…"

"So losis…" muttered Cell in awe. From the feathery finish of the Cell Pokémon's voice, Will could tell that his friend was growing tired.

The lab's back room was already ominous enough with company present to keep Will from feeling alone in the dismal setting. He decided that Cell drifting off would be his own signal for hitting the hay.

"Eh, I'll decide in the morning." Will yawned and folded his arms across his chest with the Pokèdex clamped underneath them. "G'night, buddy."

"Losiiis…" Cell nuzzled back into the clothed puddled of blankets to sleep.

Letting out one last yawn, Will pulled the old checkered blanket he had found on the couch up to his chest. There had initially been two blankets provided for his use, but one had been given to Cell for his bedding. Will could mind a bit of cold, but he could not let his best friend go without a spot to sleep.

And for the first time that night, the unruly cacophony of voices and his head were silent. For the first time in a _long time_, it seemed not only that Will made up his mind, but he was content with his choice.

Smiling, Will closed his eyes and flicked the Pokèdex off. The last remnants of light vanished from the room.

…

Cheren continued to tap his foot impatiently, as if _this_ particular Trainer could perform any stalled action in another manner. For the what seemed to be the millionth time in the span of a mere few minutes, he checked his watch, staring at the timepiece until the big hand rounded the clock again. Then he would irritably huff and let his arm drop to his side and continue the tapping.

Professor Juniper and Rosaline, the only other people in the room with Cheren, had nothing to say to calm the boy's nerve. As the three waited in the lab's central area where the three had received their Pokèdexes the other morning, they too were set slightly on edge by the amount of time Will was taking to emerge.

For today was the day that he would make his choice.

Rosaline and Juniper were particularly nervous, for they knew of Will's contradictory tendencies. When Will thought deeply about something, Rosaline told Juniper, whether it be the answer to a test question or something as trivial as whether or not he should eat an extra cookie after dinner, he tended to side with the negative after deep deliberation.

When he thought, when _anyone _thought, decision making came down to a shouting match between positives and negatives to see who can be the loudest. And in the long run, it always seemed that negativity had the strongest lungs.

Rosaline sat on the table where Juniper had put the starter Pokémon on display, her hands folded and staring into her lap. She desperately hoped her son would decide to go on his journey. The amount of deterioration she had seen in her Will, from a carefree youth to a melancholy teenager, had been too much for her. After all, she had already witnessed one child's dreams be put on hold by dumb luck and unfair circumstance.

Suddenly, footsteps began to clump down the stairs. All heads perked up like Watchogs on alert for a predator. Freshly showered and looking noticeably brighter, Will descended the stairs with Cell floating closely behind as always. While his skin and overall demeanor seemed to sing of a change in his attitude, his face betrayed no emotion nor decision.

But he gave not even a second for anyone to hold their breath. Evidently, Will was bad with suspense. Though he seemed to be rather adept at surprises.

"I'm going."

There was no cheer. There was no whoop of excitement from any present company. In fact, the loudest exclamation was a relieved sigh from the mouth of Cheren, who was only glad that he could finally leave now that Will had arrived.

No sound. No celebration. Just the statement sinking in.

Hearing soft footsteps behind her, Juniper stepped slowly to the side, beaming all the while.

_I'll let a mother do her work_, she thought contently to herself as Rosaline walked slowly by her and towards Will. She could see a tear or two glistening on the older woman's face.

Without any embarrassed resistance, Will allowed himself to be hugged. Cell backed off to allow the two to have their moment. Even Cheren (briefly) forestalled his impatience.

"I'm gonna make you proud, Mom," pledged Will, trying his hardest to hold back a few tears of his own.

"You already have," whispered Rosaline. Will couldn't help but let just one slide down his face after he heard that.

Rosaline slowly and difficulty pried herself from her son and returned immediately to Mothering-Mode. She discontentedly examined his clothing and shook her head.

"What?" demanded Will. Partly because he never knew what she was going to criticize him on, Will hated whenever his mother looked at him that way.

"You really expect to take on the world dressed like that?" chided his mother.

"She has a point," admitted Cheren from his vantage point across the room.

Will glared over his mother's shoulder. "Quiet, you. Why are you even here?"

"Professor Juniper requested that I came," answered Cheren nonchalantly, "Bianca too, but it's quite evident that she has yet to arrive. This whole time I've been waiting for you so I can fulfill the Professor's request and go."

"Wait, wouldn't you be waiting for Bianca, too?"

"I know she'll be here," he answered matter-of-factly, "It was your decision that still remained yet to be seen."

"Yeah, well-OW!"

Will had been preparing a witty retort to show Cheren up when his mother had curtly swatted him on the head. Not looking too amused herself, she pointed at his clothing. Up until then, the white T-shirt and weathered jeans had seemed fine to him. They were freshly washed…two days ago, that was. But it wasn't like he had run a marathon in them!

"What's the big deal, Mom?" demanded Will, tugging at the sides of his shirt, "It's clean!"

"Yes, but it isn't journey attire!" retorted Rosaline, folding her arms.

"Journey atti-oh, excuse me! I had no idea that there was a-OW!" Will rubbed the spat where he had been swatted yet again. "Fine then…" he grumbled, relenting, "What classifies as _journey attire_?"

"I'm glad you asked," responded Rosaline, a snide smile spreading across his face.

Rubbing his head, Will scowled; he hated when his mother was right.

Which was most of the time.

"Aurea, could you please get my bag?"

Professor Juniper nodded and headed back to the table where Rosaline had waited, retrieving one of Rosaline's old shoulder bags. Will recognized it as one she had purchased on a family trip to Vermillion City when he was eight years old.

But that was irrelevant. What was relevant was whatever the bag contained, which Will only dreaded to find out. As most mother's do, the clothing she envisioned her children in didn't always fit their fancy.

Juniper handed the bag to her colleague, who then handed it off to Will. "Change into these," she ordered, giving her son a gentle shove. "Go on. I promise you'll like them."

"I'm ecstatic…" he grumbled, retreating back up the stairs to the bathroom in which he had showered. Cell drifted to the side to unblock his path towards the stairs and then followed after his Trainer.

"Well, there he goes, Rosaline," said Aurea, looking almost as proudly as the child's mother and with good cause.

"Yup…" she mumbled wistfully, her voice a mixture of pride and remorse, "And one day, he'll go and he won't come back…"

Cheren rolled his eyes. "Let's hope he does. And soon. I want to leave…"

…

Once again it was Will's footsteps that alerted present company to his coming. Rosaline knew exactly what her son would look like in the clothes she had picked out yet she was excited nonetheless, and Juniper had yet to witness her friend's fashion sense herself and too was eager. Even Cheren looked up from his slouched position on the wall to get a look at Will.

"How do I look?"

Will tugged at the color of his new blue jacket. The jacket's fabrics were mostly of light blue, with a darker blue on the cuffs and around his shoulders; the pockets and zipper was laced with white. His new undershirt was black, a few shades darker though than the pair of long pants he wore in the place of jeans. The legs of his pants had been rather long and completely covered his feet, prompting him to tuck them into his red travel sneakers. From the way that they hugged his ankles, Will theorized that they had been designed to do so in order to shield against hazards such as water and snow. Completing the look was Will's personal favorite touch: the red and white cap sporting a black Pokèball logo on the front.

Rosaline let out a brief squeal of joy and cupper her hands over her mouth in awe of her work. Embarrassed, Will let out a groan and slouched over.

"Just kill me now…" he mumbled. Cell, snickering, drifted over to his shoulder.

"So solos!" _I was under the impression that you looked quite dapper!_

He rolled his eyes. "Thanks, buddy. I've always respected formless blobs for their fashion senses. The ladies will just be positively _fawning _over this look…"

"Oh, the _look _isn't complete." Rosaline crouched down and reached for something hidden behind her feet. Will dreaded an over-the-top, flamboyant addition to his new clothing, but was put at ease once he saw what it was. Slightly.

Rosaline handed him the straps of the blue satchel, the colors of which matched his jacket. Awed at the amount of gifts she was showering him with, Will looked into the eyes of his mother.

"Mom, I-I…I don't know what to-"

"Just open it up," she suggested, "See what's inside."

William obeyed his mother and opened the bag to study its contents. It was segmented into one main compartment with several others, ranging in size, scattered around the side. Others like them rimmed the bag's outside.

The contents of the bag seemed simple and concise, making sense for a journey which would involve long periods of outdoor travel when away from towns, where lodgings and food would be free for Trainers at a Pokémon Center. Inside the bag's main compartment were, of course, the necessities packed tightly together: a bedroll, a small waterproof tent, a book of matches, a flashlight, a rain poncho, a compass, two empty canteens, a first aid kit, and few other odds and ends he'd need for his travels.

One of the largest side compartments contained his spare clothing; four extra pairs of sox, another pair of pants and another shirt as well as his…other clothing.

"Wow, Mom," commented Will, awed. "You really thought ahead."

Rosaline giggled. "A mother knows best. Now, why not check the compartment at the bottom?"

Will knew the tone in her voice as she made the suggestion. It was the same tone she used during such suggestions as "Why not check at the back of the Christmas tree?" Whenever she used that tone, there was a pleasant surprise waiting.

Moving aside his camping equipment revealed no such compartment. Will brushed his hand along the bottom until he felt a lip in the waterproof felt. He gripped its edges and pulled it outward, ripping the two Velcro strands apart. He noted the compartment's strategic position in that it would be a very effective hiding place for valuables.

And valuables did it hide. What Will located first was the money, a fat stack of Unovan dollars rolled up and secured with a rubber band. His jaw dropped as he felt the weight of it all and looked up at his mother, stunned. Rosaline held up a hand to stop the refusal to accept from pouring out his mouth.

Even Cell, a creature to which money had no value, was awed. "So solo…" _That's a lot of dough…_

Will shoved the money towards his mother. "Mom, I-I…I can't accept this!"

"You can and you will." She humbly resisted his meekness and shoved the money back. "Your sisters and I have been putting change aside for a long time to make sure you had enough for a journey. We probably started before Cassie was even born."

Still shocked by the volume of the roll, Will placed it carefully back into the hidden flap of his bag. All in all it amounted to nothing substantial, but to a fifteen year-old kid who came from a home where money was never overly plentiful, the significant amount would be sure to get him far on his journey.

"Now, keep in mind that it's a lot, but it won't last you forever, especially if you spend it willy-nilly. You'll have to spend and save diligently," cautioned his mother.

"Of course," responded Will.

He motioned to close the bag and zip it back up, but his mother stopped him again. And _still _she had that look on her face!

"There's _more_!?" exclaimed Will.

Rosaline nodded. "Check back in the secret compartment."

"This one's from me," chimed Juniper, wrapping her fingers back around her coffee mug.

Will reached his arm back inside the tab and let his hand explore a little more liberally. It passed over the wad of money, of course, and reached the edge of the hidden pocket before his fingers brushed again something hard and square.

He gripped his hand around it and found that the object itself was circular. Fishing it out, Will held it up to the light for a better view. He found himself holding a small blue watch.

"That's Cross-Transceiver," informed Professor Juniper, "Or Xtransceiver for short. And don't you give me any unpretentious excuse as to why you can't accept the gift, William. It didn't cost a cent for me. I ordered three for myself and the twins and they threw in this extra one. So, I just decided to give it to one of my new Trainers. And just as luck would have it…"

Will gave a wry grin. "Alright, I get it. You two are geniuses and your little conspiracy worked."

"Well, try on the Xtransceiver and see if _it_ works," suggested Rosaline.

Doing as his mother told, Will placed the bag down at his feet to free up his hands and try on the watch-like device. The loop was a little tight around his wrist, but Will soon found that he could adjust the strap to a tight yet more comfortable situation. He now switched it on, the screen flashing white before briefly displaying the manufacturer's logo. It then went to a main screen not too unlike that of a Pokègear or cell phone.

"You can make video calls to anyone else with an Xtransceiver, and up to four people can participate in a single call," Juniper exclaimed, moving over to Will to tamper with his Xtransceiver. She took his wrist and began to tap buttons into the device, "You already have my number, your mother's number and your older sister's number added into your call list. I'm adding Cheren and Bianca's for your right now. In the event of an emergency, you'll all be there for each other."

Will nodded as he let the Professor finish her work with his wrist. "Speaking of that, where's…"

"SOOOOOOOOOO-RRYYYYYYYY~"

Cheren shared a look with his Kantoan counterpart as the singsongy cry emanated from outside. "That answer your question?"

It sounded like footsteps were pounding up the sidewalk; Will could only suffer to guess who they belonged to. Just as he would have expected the door to swing open and Bianca to blow inside like a wild tempest, there was a loud _THUD_ and then silence.

"Oh, good heavens," muttered Rosaline, flinching.

"'Good heavens' indeed," Juniper moaned as she gently rubbed her forehead. Bianca;s being in her employ would certainly be a handful down the road…

Not a second passed after slamming headlong into the door before Bianca burst inside. There was a small pink welt on her forehead, probably the door's doing, but she didn't seem to mind.

The bruise, that was.

"Sorry I was late!" she stammered, frantically trying to stem the tide of items flowing out of her purse. Two empty Pokèballs dropped out of her bag and as she bent to pick them up, the pair of socks which had been draped over the bag's sides fell out as well. Every time Bianca turned to pick up something fallen from her bag, two other things would fall out.

Cheren facepalmed and moved to help his ditzy companion. "Bianca, do you even _understand _the concept of deadlines?" He eyed the bottle of skin lotion that had just dropped onto the floor and opened up, causing a mess. "Or organization?"

"Yup!" she answered quickly, "I understand: I would have been more organized if I had more time. Now, can we go?"

_Ten years knowing Cheren and _that _is what rubs off? _Thought Will, noting an urgency in her that he had yet to see. She was still as full of energy as yesterday, of that there was no doubt, but she seemed more antsy than excited. Her leg jittered like a Hitmonlee on a sugar high and her eyes flickered back and forth as if expecting a something to jump out and grab her at any second.

Bianca didn't _want_ to leave: it seemed she _needed _to.

Juniper clapped her hands together in delight. "Well, it seems that everyone is here now!"

"Finally…" muttered Cheren.

Juniper ignored him and made her way towards the door. "I requested that all three of you come here so that you could depart at the same time." She opened the door. "After all, it would have been unfair if one of you got a head start."

"Head start…" muttered Will, "Wait, head start for what? What exactly is the goal of this journey besides collecting data?"

"I'm going to take the Unova League Gym Challenge and compete in the tournament at the end of the year," said Cheren, shrugging. "Once I obtain eight badges, of course. Then I'm going to take on the Elite Four and eventually become the Champion."

Will found himself shocked somewhat to hear Cheren's overly ambitious goal. Just the other day his master strategies for winning a battle had been vanquished by a _gut feeling _on the part of Will and he was already thinking of taking on the Champion.

"Anything's possible, I suppose," reasoned Will.

"I'm gonna take the Gym Challenge, too!" exclaimed Bianca, pumping her fist in the air, "I can't let Cheren compete without any competition!"

"There will be _literally_ hundreds of other Trainers, Bianca. I doubt I'll run out of competition in any short amount of time."

"What you choose to do is up to you, as long as you confer with my wishes," clarified Juniper, "Since you are my assistants, after all. But a journey isn't about what you're _supposed_ to do. It's what you _want _to." She pushed the door open further, urging the children outside. "Now, come on. Let's get you kids started, eh?"

…

Counting Cassie, whom Rosaline had awakened before leaving, there were six of them standing at the edge of Nuvema Town and Route 1. A link between worlds. Directly before them was the beaten dirt path that stretched into the thick woods until it was out of sight.

Will knew that once a certain point into the forest was reached, he would have the option of venturing down multiple paths. This particular path was the only one wide enough to allow more than one lane of traffic to pass to and from Nuvema Town, and it was also the longest.

So it would lead him where he was going, but it would take him much longer than if he found his own way.

Professor Juniper had paused for a moment to take in the fresh midmorning air wafting from the forest. The smell of fresh dew on the grass and on the leaves of trees. Pinecones and budding spring flowers. It was the perfect atmosphere for a new Trainer to start their journey.

Cheren, on the other hand, did not share her sentiments. He impatiently fiddled with his glasses as he waited for the Professor to get her fill, his angst eventually boiling over.

"Professor, I've been very patient. May we finally go?"

Juniper pursed her lips, studying Cheren quizzically. "Well Cheren, I just thought it would be nice for all three of you to step onto Route 1 and officially begin your journey together. Wouldn't you agree?" She took a page out of Rosaline's book and added an expectant and motherly tone at the end as she began to tire of Cheren's impatience.

"I-I suppose it would make for a sentimental point…" muttered Cheren. The Professor's miniature guilt trip had forced him into an awkward position where it would have been rather improper and downright rude for him to have said anything else.

Bianca squealed with joy, ready to finally embark on her journey. "That's such a good idea, Professor! Let's all hold hands!"

Cheren rolled his eyes and reached for Bianca's hand, who was to his right. He had nearly lifted his left arm when he and Will realized simultaneously who was standing next to who. They shared a brief heated glare before Cheren spoke up.

"Bianca," he said without breaking eye contact, "Why not stand in the middle?"

"Novel idea," added Will, shuffling to the side while maintaining eye contact as well.

"Great idea!" she wholeheartedly agreed, skipping in between the two boys and alleviating the tension. She took Cheren's other hand and then Wills. Her hand was much smaller than his, in addition to being softer.

And increasingly cooler.

_Damn you, puberty! _Will cursed.

Cell drifted down towards his Trainer's shoulder, feeling a bit left out. "Solo so…"

"When you grow hands, buddy. I promise."

"So losis!"

"Alright, get ready!" said Rosaline, readying in camera. Will fidgeted as his cheeks turned even redder.

"Mom, why did you have to bring your camera!?"

Rosaline rolled her eyes. "Aw, come on. It's not that big a deal. Now hold Bianca's hand and take your first steps with your friends."

Will turned around and huffed, allowing his mother to ready her camera unhindered. Her fingers tingling with anticipation, Bianca began to move forward and the boys moved with her. Together, they took the first official steps of their journey. Will groaned as he heard the sound of his mother's camera snapping.

As soon as the picture had been taken, Cheren was gone. He released Bianca's hand and began to stroll casually into the forest, hands gripping the straps of his backpack. He called out his goodbyes as he walked away.

"Farewell, Professor. Thank you for the Pokèdex and the Snivy. I'll be in touch. Bianca, don't get yourself into any trouble. And Will?" Cheren actually turned around, his glasses seeming to flash with fire. "Stay sharp. I don't want your skills in battle to dull."

"Count on it," vowed Will. Next time, he promised himself, he'd beat Cheren without a single iota of doubt.

"Oh, oh, oh, I wanna get to Accumula Town first!" shouted Bianca, taking off after Cheren. "Byeeeee~! I'll see everyone later!"

She sped past Cheren and down the path. Cheren shook his head and continued his leisurely pace through Route 1. Along with Will and Professor Juniper, he knew that even with her seemingly infinite reserves of energy that Bianca would eventually have to slow down. But Will admired her drive; it would make their rivalry far more exciting.

"Well, we can't let them get too big of a head start on us, now can we?" Will asked Cell, adjusting the straps of his satchel.

"Solo sis!" _Let's show 'em who's boss!_

Will nodded at his companion's sentiment and began to take the second step of his journey. His leg wasn't halfway through the motion when his mother noisily cleared her throat. Will sheepishly turned around and grinned.

"Ehehe…bye?"

"No respect from kids these days," said Rosaline, shaking her head, "I raise you for fifteen years after bringing you into this world after going through hours of painstaking labor-"

"MOM!"

Rosaline giggled at her son's displeasure and waved her hand. He had suffered through enough embarrassment…for now. "Oh, would you stop being so stiff and give your mother a hug?"

Will obliged without any further coaxing. As the two enveloped each other in a warm embrace, Will felt a twinge of regret deep within his stomach. With his older sister working fulltime at the Pokèmart back in Icirrus City and his mother maintaining her own career, an added burden would be placed upon the family without him there.

"I'm gonna miss you," he breathed into her ear, keeping his voice low so that Cassie didn't hear the shakiness in his voice. His eyes were moist, but no tears fell down his face like last time.

"Don't," instructed Rosaline, holding her son by the shoulders and looking into his eyes, "Go on your adventure. Live your life and become what _you_ want to be. Don't worry about us. We'll be fine. And even if you do want to chat, we're just an Xtransceiver call away!"

"Yeah!" shouted Cassie, "You'd b-better n-not…you'd better c-call, big b-brother…"

Will couldn't hide his grin at Cassie's attempts to be strong. In a way, he felt that even she was performing better than he had under this kind of anxiety. He dropped down onto one knee and wrapped her in a hug, letting her know that the tears could run freely. Cell backed off to give his Trainer and his family some space.

"I'll call every time I get a free minute, Cass. I promise." Will patted his sister on her tiny shoulder and got back to his feet. "You take care of Mommy for me, will ya?"

She sniffled, wiping a tear off of her tiny cheek. "O-okay…"

The Greys remained motionless for but a moment, staring at each other in complete silence with no clear conscience on what to do next. Suddenly, Rosaline shook her head and brushed a tear from under her eyeglasses.

"Oh, would you just go already?" she half chuckled, half whimpered, "You're going to make me cry again…"

"S-sorry…"

"Oh, Will! Before you go!" Juniper spoke up and moved towards the teen. She had remained relatively silent and out-of-the-way for the Greys to have their family moment before Will left. Smiling in a way that overshadowed the somber mood and brought light back to the fact of Will's departure, Juniper stopped in front of Will and reached into her pocket.

"I'm not hugging you too," he jested, causing Juniper to laugh.

"Not if you don't want to, but that's not why I've stopped you one last time." Juniper removed her hand from her pocket. Her hand was balled up in a fist, concealing something. "I need to ask of you one last favor."

"Do I have to snatch a pebble from your hand, Master?" chortled the snarky young boy, his head bobbing cockily to the side. Cell giggled, amused.

Juniper rolled her eyes. "Ha-ha," she said sarcastically. "You're just full of 'em today, aren't you?"

"I aim to entertain."

"Yes, indeed. But _I _was wondering if you could entertain this little guy for me." Juniper unraveled her slender fingers to reveal a Pokèball condensed into its smaller and more compact form. Those who did not use them scarcely knew this fact, but the small black rim around a Pokèball's central white button (the one that opened and closed the ball when pressed) was actually a dial that could shrink the Pokèball down to that compact size. Juniper reverted it to its original size with a slight tap of the center button and tossed it into the air. Out of it came a burst of what light, and from that emerged a familiar Pokémon on the ground.

"Oshawa!" exclaimed Oshawott, throwing his tiny arms up into the air. Cassie squealed, overwhelmed by the Sea Otter's cuteness. Due to their congruent sizes, the two would have made excellent playmates.

Will held his hands flat in a defensive gesture. "Professor, I told you that I can't accept this Pokémon." Oshawott slouched, demoralized by Will's modesty. The boy was put further on frantic defense. "I-I mean, I'm sure he's a great Pokémon, but I don't want to deprive some kid of their-"

"Between you and me?" Juniper whispered into Will's ear, leaning in close and checking on Oshawott to make sure he couldn't hear. "Oshawott has had some…trouble getting picked. He's a little too energetic for most starting Trainers, and his constant rocketing around and jumping the gun, so to speak, has given him a bit of a bad rep among new Trainers getting their Pokémon from me."

"Oh," said Will, beginning to understand what she meant.

"It would mean a lot to both me and Oshawott if you took him along. I mean, the more time he spends in that lab, the harder it's going to be for him to get chosen and the harder it's going to _be _on him. Give him a chance, Will."

Not only could Will refused a request from Professor Juniper, who he had come to see as prominent mentor figure in the span of but a day and a half, but neither could he deny the accompanying of such an adorable and misfortunate creature.

It had almost been as if Oshawott was listening in and urging Will along on Juniper's all-expenses paid guilt trip. His tiny white paws had folded over his scalchop and his ears drooped, his blue eyes glimmering like the break of dawn over the ocean. Will caved, but not with any problematic reluctance. A new addition to his team was a new addition.

On the other hand, Cell was not as prepared for his Dynamic Duo with Will to become a Dynamic Trio. He noticed his Trainer's indecision and scoffed.

"Solo solo," he said to Oshawott, sneering. _This one's taken, pal. Starter Pokémon: right here! Looks like you'll have to-_

"Alright, Oshawott. Welcome to the team!"

Cell's bubble rippled as his eyes exploded to the size of saucer places. What!? Had Will lost his mind!?

"S-solo!"

"Osha osha!" Oshawott could hardly contain his jubilance, jumping up and down and waving his scalchop over his head. The glorious and long-awaited day had finally come! He was leaving on a journey across the world with a new Trainer!

"Of course, you're gonna need a nickname…" Will said thoughtfully, scratching his chin and thinking back to what Juniper had informed him of the Water-Type. He knew nothing of Oshawott's actual personality himself, and so pulling a name out of thin air wouldn't hold any special meaning. So he thought back to Juniper's explanation, to how she had described his personality and why he had yet to be chosen.

"Hyper? No…Jumper? Nah, that's not it…" It suddenly came to him. Will snapped his fingers excitedly, recalling the noun from Juniper's vocabulary that had stuck out the most to him. "I've got it! How about 'Rocket?'"

"SHAWAAAA!" Oshawott, now officially dubbed 'Rocket' by his Trainer, let loose a primeval shout of joy. As well ass a gusher of water from his mouth directly into Will's face. Will lingered in that position for a moment in stunned silence.

Juniper gulped and tried to hide her sweatdrop. Oshawott, er, _Rocket _was going to be a tough Pokémon to train. And she knew that Will would have a thicker skin than most starting Trainers and at least give him a better chance…at least, she _hoped._

"I forgot to warn you…" she gulped, tentatively holding out the Pokèball for Will to take, "…that Rocket tends to do that when he's excited…"

Cell rolled his eyes. "So solos…" _Oh, joyous day…_

"No, no, that's alright," assured Will, taking the ball with one hand and wiping off some water with the other, "I'd probably do the same in his position.

"Well, if you leave now, you'll probably be able to make it most of the way to Accumula Town before nightfall," relented Rosaline. At the surface, she wanted to keep her boy with her as long as she possibly could. Deep down however, she knew that he'd have to go sometime. She'd need to address this like a bandage: rip it off quickly.

Will nodded. "Right…right, good point."

He shook his head in search of the words he needed to express the ramping beat of his heart, now that he was free to go wherever he pleased. It seemed almost like too much freedom to handle at once, but like his mother he knew that he'd get used to it after he took the plunge. And best to do it quickly.

Will felt a pair of small arms wrap around his legs. Cassie was giving him one final sisterly hug, and before he could remiss into a guilty state of wanting to stay, she let go. Despite her tremendous strength on show, a few dears still trickled down her face.

"B-be good, b-big brother…"

"Promise," he croaked, cracking a weak smile.

He then nodded at his mother. Rosaline nodded back, feeling the shared sentiment between her son and her. More hugs or tears would just set the cycle on repeat, they both knew.

"I'll see you soon," vowed Rosaline

"Count on it."

Juniper silently approached Will and placed a hand on the young man's shoulder. The display between brother, sister and mother had nearly brought tears to her own eyes. Coupled with the melting pot of emotions that was leaving on a journey for the first time, with which she was familiar, Juniper herself would need to be a much colder person than she was not to feel anything from it.

"I think you've said all of your goodbyes," admitted Juniper, trying to give Will a verbal nudge in the other direction to pry him away from his family. She cocked an eyebrow as he turned to her. "After all, if Cheren beats you to Accumula Town, you'll _never _hear the end of it."

Will snickered. "Good point, Professor. I should probably get a move-on." He looked down at his Pokémon. "What do ya say, guys? Ready to get outta Dodge?"

"Oshawa!" declared Rocket in his eternally-elated demeanor.

"So solo…" mumbled Cell, who was already essentially moving in the opposite direction. He had been ready to go since the start, and while leaving the company of such familiar figures of the Greys was a letdown, having a new unwilling traveling companion proved to be even more so.

"Alright…well, be seein' ya!" Through tremendous effort, Will managed to get his feet moving down the path and away from his family. He kept his body facing them, waving all the while. He wouldn't turn away until the last moment.

Equally reluctantly, Rosaline beamed back at her son and waved as well. This action proved to be just as difficult as Will's in practice. It was almost the reverse of what he was doing; while Will walked away, Rosaline bid him farewell. The gesture was essentially approving his departure from home. It was letting him go.

And deep down, she knew it was the right decision.

"Remember to brush your teeth, honey," cried Rosaline as Will began to move farther and farther away. Mushy emotions had been exhausted, and now motherly advice was now all that remained for Rosaline to say. "Shower every day when you have access! Wash your clothes and remember to every day change into a fresh pair of-"

"MOM!"

Rosaline giggled. "Just take care, sweetie."

"Got it! And make sure you check the news tomorrow, Mom! I'll probably be Champion by then!" And with that, Will turned and began to trot excitedly away from his family and Juniper, with Cell zipping along after him and Rocket pumping his tiny legs to try and catch up.

His mother's eventual relaxation at their farewell had eased Will's qualms about leaving her. A weight had been lifted off his shoulders; even now, he could feel it slowly disappearing into the space around him. For the first time in a long time, he felt light and unbound.

For the first time in a long time, he was free.

Confidence and bravado, the worth of years and years of being pent up, was released into his veins and it quickly coursed through him. Will's trot steadily became a run through Route 1. For the moment, he forgot the breathing conditioning he had learned in his years on the school track and field team. He was lost in the moment and could breathe in nothing but pure elation.

"C'mon, guys!" shouted Will, speeding up even faster, "My badge case is feeling awful empty! Let's go change that!"

"Solo so solos!" _You had me at 'badge'! _

Rocket, beginning to lag behind, stumbled and narrowly regained his balance. "O-osha!" Osha wa!" _C-can we slow down a bit, please!_

At his new pace, it didn't take much longer for Will to disappear from Rosaline's sight. As Rosaline smiled down at the path as if her son were still there, the old saying of "If you love something, set it free" came to mind.

Will was free now. He no longer had to worry about things he had previously been burdened by, things that a fifteen year-old shouldn't have had on their plate. Will was living his own adventures, and that's the way it should be in Rosaline's opinion.

"C'mon, dear," she said, taking Cassie's hand and leading her away, "Let's see about getting you some lunch."

"Rosaline, if you don't mind me saying," began Juniper, tagging along, "That went a bit more smoothly than with the parents of Trainers I've sent off in the past. And Will has been somewhat of a…special case, right? So how was it so easy?"

Rosaline looked over her shoulder. "Well, don't forget I've already seen off one of my children on their journey."

"Very true," Juniper acknowledged with a nod.

"And one day, me too!" squeaked Cassie. Rosaline and Juniper shared a brief bark of laughter.

"One step at a time, young lady," urged Rosaline, "First, let's worry about lunch."

For about the millionth time that morning, Juniper found herself taken aback by the resolve and devotion that a mother could have to her children. But that still didn't satisfy her scientific desire for answers.

"Rose, you still haven't answered my question."

Rosaline stopped this time, looking into Aurea's eyes in a manner that was both as sincere, sweet and stern as could be at the same time. "If you love something, Aurea, you let it go. If it's yours, it will come back to you." Making her grip on her daughter's hand more firm, Rosaline continued walking. "You'll understand when you have kids one day, Aurea."

"O-one step at a time, Rose!" stammered Juniper, the suddenness of Rosaline's guarantee literally staggering her and nearly making her fall.

Once again, Rosaline laughed. But this time, Cassie joined in as well.

…

_"And make sure you check the news tomorrow, Mom! I'll probably be Champion by then!"_

Hidden in the trees high above Route 1's principal pathway, the onlooker watched intently as the slender teen dashed suddenly away from the trio of humans seeing him off, with his Solosis and Oshawott tailing him. With his long legs and budgeted stride, most likely accumulated from track sports, the boy ate up the distance between him and the two who had left ahead of him. The onlooker hypothesized that he would soon catch up to them.

His camouflage was not impressive in the least for his current setting: his robes were a mixture of earthen brown and fiery red. Had it been autumn, than perhaps he would have gotten away with blending in to the environment. But at this time of year, when the trees were budding and all plant life was in full bloom, the only factors keeping him hidden was his tactful positioning and his silence.

His presence was so slight, so disturbing of nature, that he was practically not there.

Not only did he not have any business being where he was, but in all honesty he had no _purpose _being where he was. It was purely out of curiosity and good information that he needed up there, at the right place and right time.

"Heh…" he muttered, scratching his stubbly chin with one hand and balancing up against a tree trunk with the other, "Ol' Blaine was right. He _was_ starting today…"

Minimal guesswork was needed for the onlooker to figure out where Will was headed next, and his destination after that. He could leave the boy to his own devices for now and pick up his scent later. Due to the multitude of choices that would be presented to him once he reached that point, the onlooker decided he'd check back once the boy reached Castelia City.

For now, his path was inconsequential.

"Good luck, kid," muttered the man before hopping back into the tree line with the grace and precision of a creature native to the habitat. In mere seconds he was gone, leaving no trace that he had ever been.

* * *

**And so Will has finally embarked on his journey, with both Cell and his new teammate Rocket by his side! What dangers will he encounter along the way? And who was the mysterious onlooker hidden in the trees, and what did he mean? **

**Stay tuned for next week's chapter: _Chapter 6: Rookie Mistakes!__  
_**

**For those of you who may not know, "Get outta Dodge" is just an old expression that means pretty much the same thing as "To leave." I use t frequently in real life and it may find its way into this story's dialogue a couple more times (or at least I wouldn't be surprised if it did) so that's just a friendly definition.**

**As for Will's outfit, it's basically just Hilbert/Black's outfit from BW. Of course, his appearance is different, but I felt it would be right to give him the hero's clothes, and I kinda liked that outfit myself. **

**Time for Reader Question...time. Quite simply put, which region is your favorite? Side games count, so accept Orre, Almia, Fiorre, or Oblivia are completely acceptable answers!**

**Reviews are appreciated, so why not take a minute or two to tell me how I'm doing? **

**And if you celebrate it, have a happy Easter! See you next week!**


	7. Chapter 6: Rookie Mistakes

**A common phrase I'd heard spoken to and around me throughout my life was "it's funny how things just work out." I understand it's meaning and can see how it would be applicable to certain lives and situations. But personally, I find it funnier still in how some things _do not _work out.**

**-Excerpt from _The Hero of Unova, _a biography by Lucina Hale-Grey**

* * *

Will let his pumping legs come to a much welcome stop after his lengthy run, verily coming to a stop much further down the path than from where he had started. His mother, his sister, the Professor, the entirety of his starting point in Nuvema town, were all far behind him now.

After checking his Xtransceiver, Will made the estimation that he had been running for near an hour at his even pace. Being able to run vast distances like he could was something that Will considered to be almost a necessary skill for all Trainers to have, but he knew that most Trainers nowadays would sadly lack peak physical skills.

Not that he was a track star or anything. Will had participated in the sport for a time when he had been in school and a little after his graduation, allowing himself to build up a good endurance and a healthy cardiac strength. However, he had not been actively participating in the sport since a good three or more years ago, and so he found the distance he was capable of covering before he tired out significantly decreased.

Will had initially been attracted to running for sport due to his desire to participate in a team setting back in school, but the boy soon found that he lacked the physical prowess to practice most outdoor sports. His arms were too weak to swing a bat and his depth perception was terrible, making baseball a bad choice. Due also in part to his faulty aim and bad judgment of distance, sports such as soccer and lacrosse were made all but negligible.

And football? Forget about it. Will competing against actual athletes in a game of football would be like a Vanillite playing a locomotive in a game of Torchic.

On the side of the path, Will located a windswept pine stump with a flat-cut top and seated himself atop it. He brought his bag over onto his lap and removed one of his canteens from it, taking a gulp of cold water and screwing the top back on before his greed for another swig made him waste more.

He heard muffled panting coming up the path in the direction he had come and looked expectantly in the direction. Coming up towards him was Cell, who looked just about as drained as his Trainer did.

While Solosis did not actually have legs to move or muscles to move them with to embark on motions such as running, they did in fact move and all movement required energy. The anti-gravitational fields projected by Solosis required just as much energy as running did in a human and could be adjusted as such. The more intensity with which a Solosis projected its fields to go faster, the more energy it would consume and the faster it'd do so.

"Stay in the sunlight," recommended Will as his Pokémon came to a stop in front of him. Since Cell had no need for hydration and only needed straightforward energy and nutrients to survive, the only way Cell could rejuvenate himself was to absorb more solar energy.

"Solo…" agreed Cell easily, backing out of the shade of the tress and relaxing in the light.

"Was Rocket behind you?" asked Will. He had entrusted Cell to keep an eye on the Oshawott during their jog to assure that the tiny mammal didn't lag behind too far.

"So…losis…" mumbled Cell, uncaring.

"Cell…where is he?" Will cocked an eyebrow and leaned forward. He wasn't totally oblivious to the goings-on with his Pokémon; he was well aware of Cell's distrust of Rocket. It wasn't (no pun intended) rocket science to determine that much.

Will himself knew what it felt like to be jealous or even envious of a new addition being added to a unit. He had been through the birth of his baby sister after all and the subsequent shift in attention from his mother and sister to the new baby. He had been jealous at first, but he eventually came to terms with her and accepted things for what they were.

Just as Cell would have to do. Will would be doing his best to ease Rocket, and any new Pokémon he caught, into his team, but he would never play favorites. They were a family, after all.

Now only a minute or two after Cell had caught up, Will heard a slighter and more ragged panting as an extremely weary Rocket came stumbling up the path. His walk was stumbling and staggering, clueing Will into the fact that one of the areas he'd have to address when training his new Pokémon was endurance.

Will stood up and moved to intercept Rocket, scooping the Sea Otter up into his arms and returning back to his stump. He could almost feel the envied glare that Cell sent his way bearing into his back as he sat back down and removed his canteen.

"Drink up, pal," Will said as he titled the canteen over Rocket's mouth, "You did a lot of running. I'll try not to get so carried away further down the road."

"Oshaaa…" moaned Rocket in agreement. Will was a bit more generous with the water he allotted to Rocket than to himself, seeing as the tiny creature was physically much weaker than he.

"Better?" he asked as Rocket finished swallowing his water.

"Osha osha!" Brandishing his scalchop, Rocket leapt out of his Trainers lap and stood proudly on the ground before him. He looked and acted completely rejuvenated, as if he were Popeye the Sailor who had just consumed a can of spinach.

Will chuckled and relaxed on the stump. "Now that I think of it, Rocket probably was a really good name for you. It may be in short bursts, but you've got some out-of-this-world energy when you want to, little guy."

"So solos…" muttered Cell, rolling his eyes. _How much is too much...?_

"That reminds me…" Will sat up and reached into his pocket, pulling out his Pokèdex. He pointed the onyx colored device at his new Pokémon as if he were taking a picture and switched it on.

**Oshawott, **hummed his Pokèdex, **The Sea Otter Pokémon. Oshawott are most often found in coastal areas and rivers that link to oceans due to their preference of salt water over fresh water. This is due in parts: Oshawotts' preferred foods are found mainly in the oceans, as are the scalchops that they wear on their bellies. Oshawott are not born with a scalchop and must find their own in order to find food and even to be accepted by groups of Oshawott. Discipline and maturity are two key factors of an Oshawott's evolution; like humans, they mentally mature at different rates, some fast and some slow, triggering their evolution into Dewott. This Oshawott is male and an estimated two years of age. It possesses the ability Torrent and can use the moves Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Razor Shell.**

"Razor Shell? Isn't that a higher level move for an Oshawott to learn?" mused Will aloud.

He quickly remembered what Juniper had said about Oshawott's trouble with attracting the attention of new Trainers. Coupled with the fact he had just learned about Oshawott's species being big on sword techniques and discipline, it made sense that Oshawott learned a higher level move by itself.

"Osha wott!" affirmed Rocket, wearing Will's remark like a badge of pride.

Still, Cell wasn't very impressed. "Solo so…" _New Pokémon are always so full of themselves…_

His Trainer cocked an eyebrow. A sly grin and an even slyer idea were slowly formulating on and in him.

"Is that so, Cell? Hey, Rocket! Why not show Cell your Razor Shell attack? Maybe then he'll see how strong you are."

"Osha!" Rocket excitedly declared, misinterpreting what Will had actually meant amidst his elation at recognition. So much attention in so little time was proving both good and bad for the little guy.

Will realized the fatality of his mistake but a second after it became irreversible.

Filled with excitement and gusto, Rocket thrust his scalchop into his paw and began his Razor Shell attack. Rocket's tiny shell charged full of crackling blue energy and extended to three times its original length. Brandishing the now lethal weapon over his tiny head, Rocket let out a battle cry and leapt at Cell.

"Rocket, no!" cried Will, shooting from his seat.

But it was too late for either him or Cell to react. Just as the other Pokémon was coming to terms with the developing situation, it hit him. Quite literally.

For such a small Pokémon, Rocket's attack packed quite the punch. It raked across Cell's protective cytoplasm and sent him careening backwards into a tree. Luck for him that he had his protective layer, else the accident might have caused even more damage.

Yes, Cell was fine. But no, unfortunately, he was not very forgiving or understanding.

Cell recovered from the blow and righted himself, glaring hatefully at Rocket, who was rather distracted by his own satisfaction.

"So solos!" shrieked Cell. _You little Rattata! What's wrong with you!?_

"Oshawa?" responded Rocket, tilting his head in confusion. _Huh? Did I do it wrong?_

"Losiiiis!" _Oh, you did **something **wrong, I'll tell you that much!_

Cell maintained his heated glare at Rocket for another long moment. Will almost feared for a second that he would take some form of repercussive action against the naïve Rocket. No matter how well trained he thought Cell was, however, he wasn't about to take any chance that one of his Pokémon could be hurt.

While he could stop it, that is.

"Alright, alright, that's enough," cautioned Will, stepping in between the two. He faced Cell, knowing that no trouble would come from Rocket. The Oshawott was more confused than he was involved.

Cell was stunned in disbelief. "Solos! So solo!" he protested.

"It wasn't his fault, Cell," said Will, trying to calm Cell down.

"Loooo!"

"Cell! Listen to me!" Will looked deep into his partner's eyes, silently pleading for him to listen. "Rocket isn't as experienced as you. He's not as smart and he doesn't know any better. Juniper said he'd been cooped up in that lab for almost an entire year! How would you have felt if you were turned down by new Trainers that long?"

"So los…" mumbled Cell submissively. He had heard Will's mother give speeches such as these to her children plentifully in the past. Cell knew when he was getting guilt tripped, but he also knew when his Trainer was serious about something. He respected Will too much to just shrug Will off in situations like these. And that respect went both ways.

Will clapped Cell on the head. "Just give him a chance to learn. He'll get better, I promise." Smiling, Will turned away to retrieve his bag from the stump. "I think we've had enough rest now…or maybe too much…regardless, I think it's time we moved on. What do you guys think?"

"Osha osha!" shouted Rocket, agreeing wholeheartedly.

Cell simply rolled his eyes and drifted closer to Will. After the fiasco that had just ensued, perhaps making them even more tense than before the rest period had begun, Will was going to count Cell's current level of cooperation as a win and just roll with it.

"Alright, that's a 'Yes' vote from everyone!" said Will, shouldering his bag, "Let's go!"

With that, Will made his way back onto the dirt path and began walking. Not running this time. The dreamlike reality of being free to go wherever he pleased had now fully sunken in. It seemed that it was now much more "reality" than it was "dream."

_Don't have to treat it like it'll be over and gone the next time I blink my eyes, _reasoned Will, _But that doesn't mean it won't be over fast. Best go slow and enjoy it…while beating Cheren, of course…_

Will increased his pace only slightly, to a point where one might consider it just peaking a casual pace. Rocket merrily marched behind him, his tiny legs now able to keep perfect pace with Will.

Cell, however, lagged behind a bit. Tired, he was not, but wary. He studied Rocket from behind, where neither the Oshawott nor the human could notice whilst drifting along behind them.

_What kind of trouble are you going to get us into? _Cell pessimistically wondered.

He had yet to become familiar with the problem, but that day's events thus far had given him a clear idea on several solutions.

…

There were two of them. A duo of Patrats had ventured farther from the burrows than normal on that warm spring day in search of the food that would feed their colony for the next few days. Spring had returned to Unova, which also meant Unova's migratory species would be returning to their homes to enjoy the warm weather.

To the Patrats, this translated to the return of a rather unsavory neighbor. A loathsome Tranquil would be returning to her nest sometime soon, which was located just above the Patrats' den. While Patrat was not included on the diets of such Pokémon, this particular Trainquil rather enjoyed harassing its furry neighbors and sometimes stealing the berries and nuts that they attempted to scavenge from trees and bushes near their home.

It didn't even eat those either. She acted in this vicious manner for one simple reason: because she could.

While they knew that she would be returning soon, the Patrat did not know when. And they surely did not want to be on their way home when she did arrive. Patrat, as a rule, hated surprises.

So they had strayed farther than usual to collect food on that day, eventually stumbling upon a small grove containing a low-hanging Pecha Berry tree. They hoped that remaining away from their home while out would deter the Tranquil from sighting them on its way back, which would allow them to make a stealthy return home with a bounty of berries stored within their cheek pouches.

For now, they knew they were safe from any eyes in the skies. However, they were blissfully unaware of the three pairs that scrutinized them on the ground.

Will could hardly contain his excitement. Here he was on the precipice of capturing his very first Pokémon. The sensation was so overwhelming to him, he had nearly disturbed the bush behind which he hid several times, which would have alerted his prey.

"See those Patrats?" Will asked in a shrill whisper. He removed an empty Pokèball from his bag and showed it to Cell and Rocket, who were hidden alongside him, "We're gonna catch 'em!"

"Osha osha!" exclaimed Rocket.

"Shhhhh!" hissed Will, clamping his hands over Rocket's mouth.

Cell rolled his eyes. _Amateur…_

"Alright, before we make any hasty decisions…" Will pulled out his Pokèdex and pointed it at the closest Patrat. He pressed its side button with one finger, and urgently turned down the encyclopedia's volume with another.

**Patrat, **hummed the Pokèdex, much quieter than usual, **The Scout Pokémon. The lives of Patrat and their evolutionary counterparts, Watchog, are completely centered around obedience and discipline. When the first official Pokémon Encyclopedia was created in 1735 (named _Systema Naturae _by its publisher) scientists argued over awarding the name of the "Discipline Pokémon" to either Patrat or Dewott. If ordered to do so by an elder of their colony, Patrat will stand watch for days without food or water. It can communicate to other members of its colony with slight noises, movements, or even light signals when they evolve. During the Unovan Revolutionary War, colonial rebels learned from and organized their military doctrine after being inspired by watching Patrat. Their commands, their scouting strategies, even down to their salute, the rebels managed to turn an undisciplined militia into a fighting force to be reckoned with. This newfound discipline gave them the strength and coordination to eventually drive away their Sinnohan oppressors away. This Patrat is male and is an estimated four years of age. It possesses the ability Run Away and can use the moves Tackle, Leer and Sand Attack.**

Will licked his lips in anticipation as he deposited the Pokèdex back into his pocket. Juniper would be pleasantly surprised when she found out that he had caught another Pokémon mere hours into his journey.

"You're up, Rocket. Show me what you've got." Will scratched his chin and studied the Patrat further. Patrat were quick little creatures and these two stood a distance from where Rocket was. A ranged attack like Water Gun would be best. "How about we try a Wa-"

"Shawa!" Letting loose a mighty war cry and brandishing his scalchop, Rocket shot forth towards his enemies. Apparently he had taken the meaning of Will's command to immediately launch into what he interpreted as his best attack.

A.K.A the only one Will had yet to have demonstrated directly to him, thus leading Rocket's small mind to associate that fact with showing Will "what he's got."

Will's hand shot out as if to stop Rocket. "Rocket, wait! I said to use-"

But it was too late. Rocket was already well on his way to the duo of Patrats, whose ears pricked up and heads swiveled around in awareness of Rocket's attack. However, in actuality they had been well aware the entire time of Will and his two Pokémon. They had simply been paying them no mind. Trainers very often passed through the forest with their Pokémon to train or capture and most often would pay no mind to a Patrat or two.

But it seemed that this particular Trainer was rather dead-set on acquiring one or both of them. And he didn't seem to be going about it in a stealthy or overall smooth manor. The Patrats came up with four possibilities on why they, a species known for the alertness and speed in escaping, had been attacked head on.

Either A) The Trainer was new. B) He was an idiot. C) The Oshawott was new. Or D) The Oshawott was an idiot. And any of the four criteria could be intermixed with one another.

"Osha wott!" cried Rocket in his state of ignorant triumph, raising his shell high in the air to strike at the Patrats, neither of which were the slightest bit intimidated.

"So solos…" mumbled Cell, desperately wishing that he had hands to facepalm with.

Rocket brought his shell down in a slicing motion directed at the foremost Patrat. Despite millions of years of evolution and genetic malleability drilling into his species on how to avoid predators (or other attackers) and stay alive gave him the perfect evasive maneuvers for the situation, all the Patrat had to do to avoid Rocket was step aside.

The Razor Shell attack slammed into the ground and became lodged in the dirt. Rocket gave it a quick pull, but found it was stubbornly sheathed in the earth. Another mighty tug did nothing for him, as did the next.

Sheepishly turning to the two Patrat, Rocket chuckled nervously and rubbed his head. "Wott osha oshawott…" _Sorry for the delay, fellas…my shell seems to be a little stuck at the moment…Can I have a minute, please?_

Very unamused, the two Patrat exchanged glances and came to a unanimous agreement in one bout of eye contact.

The two slammed suddenly into the still vulnerable Rocket with their Tackle attacks, sending him tumbling back, further away from his shell. Will was able to stand no more of watching his Pokémon helplessly struggled and burst out of the bushes in full run, Cell following behind.

"Hey, that's enough!" he yelled at the Patrat, "Leave him alone!"

The two Patrat exchanged eye contact again. The Oshawott may have been foolhardy enough to play around with and avoid caution, but a six-foot-tall human being could not be ignored as a potential threat. Both Patrats made haste in scurrying out of the clearing with designs to forage for food elsewhere.

They made their escape at the other end of the clearing, past where Rocket lay, but not before the one whom Rocket had tried to attack paused to flick a clump of dirt into Rocket's face with his tail. Rocket coughed as the dirt stung his eyes and entered his mouth. Pleased with himself, the Patrat chittered to his companion in amusement and scurried into the bushes just as Will and Cell arrived at where Rocket lay.

"Rocket, you didn't listen to my command," chided Will, dropping to one knee and reaching into the medicine pouch of his bag.

"Solo sos…" _To be fair, you didn't get the whole command out…_Cell loved to remind Will of his mistakes. Of course, the intent was to joke with his Trainer and to assure that Will learned from his mistakes.

Humans made the things all the time, after all. Without a levelheaded Pokémon like Cell by each of their sides, who could trust them to make decisions at all?

"Wooott…" moaned Rocket, spitting out the dirt that had ended up in his mouth.

Will smiled ironically as he produced a potion, one of three that he had on hand, from his bag. He turned Rocket over and found the wounded area that had resulted from the dual attack of the Patrats. It was nothing more than a medium sized bruise puffing out of Rocket's turquois fur, but no injury would be too small for Will to ignore on his Pokémon, especially so far from a Pokémon Center.

"Just be more careful next time," cautioned Will as he spritzed the healing solution on Rocket's wound, "I'm sure the next battle will go better."

…

**Seventeen minutes later…**

**Lillipup, the Puppy Pokémon, **Will's Pokèdex informed him as he pointed it at the trio of adorable Pokémon frolicking in the golden grassy meadow he had stumbled upon further into the forest, **Records from early Unovan civilization suggest that Lillipups were not domesticated until the early Classical Era, unlike many other canine species around the world which were valued for their loyalty and skills as hunting aides. Lillipups are still as loyal as any Growlithe or Houndour but are far weaker and not as good at hunting, though still very viable. Instead, they were valued for their adorable and lovable natures and accepted mostly as pets. They are very easy to train, accepting most any human that gives them a command to be a superior. Most domestic Lillipups bond to one human as their master and thus stand by and defend that human for their entire lives. For this reason many Unovan children are presented with Lillipups as their first Pokémon. This Lillipup is female and an estimated three years of age. It possess the ability Vital Spirit and can use the moves Growl and Tackle.**

Will, crouched behind the tall grass with Cell and Rocket, turned once again to his newest Pokémon and patted the smaller creature on the back. "This fight looks a bit more doable than the last one. An easy little scrimmage to ease you into things. Think you can do it?"

"Osha osha!" Will hadn't expected any sort of different answer; it seemed that hell nor high water could douse the spirits of the fiery Water-Type.

"That's what I like to hear," said Will encouragingly, patting Rocket on the back. "Ready?"

"Osha!"

Cell tapped his Trainer on the back with his round body. He was concerned at this point, and don't get him wrong; it was for his Trainer's sake, not Rocket's. He couldn't possibly care less about the little blue rodent.

From years of experience he knew that Will did not deal well with continuous failures. And that didn't look too far off with what Rocket was accomplishing. Or providing a lack thereof.

"Losis so…" Cell said tentatively. _You're _sure _you don't want me to do it?_

"Cell, Cell, relax! We have to let Rocket get the hang of battling wild Pokémon if we ever want to catch any. And wouldn't you know it, we do! What you see as a waste I see as a marvelous opportunity to profit twofold from this experience!"

Cell rolled his eyes and said nothing more. He drifted back to give his Trainer more space to unveil his master plan. What Will had just described as an opportunity for both Pokémon and Trainer to gain experience, Cell had interpreted as the explanation of a scheme.

"We want to be sure that we can land some hits this time around…" reasoned Will as he planned his approach. Unlike last time, the Pokémon seemed to be too busy to notice him or his Pokémon. "I say we start off with a good dose of Tail Whi-"

Before Will could finish his thought, Rocket had already whipped his scalchop off of his chest and extended it to its full length and charged straight at the Lillipup with his Razor Shell attack. Cell rolled his eyes.

_Here we go again…_

Both unfortunately and ironically, Will was thinking the exact same thing.

The battle with the Lillipup didn't go much differently than it had with the Patrat. Rocket completely forwent any subversion or tactic and charge straightaway at his targets with his attack clearly broadcasted. He might as well have been holding a sign that said, "I'm going to try to slash you horizontally with this Razor Shell! Look out!"

Lillipup might have been innocent and playful Pokémon, but they were extremely cautious in the face of a strange new presence that could even be perceived as a threat. As Rocket drew nearer, all three lowered down onto the forelegs with their posteriors pointed in the air and bared their fangs, looking as fearsome as possible. Then all at once they began to yip and growl.

Caught off guard by the sudden cacophony of barking, Rocket lowered his shell and stumbled. The small pack's leader, which was several times stronger and more experienced than the specimen that Will had identified, leapt forward whilst bearing its fangs.

With his scalchop held loosely out to the side, Rocket could defend against no attacks coming from the other direction. Lillipup was given the perfect opportunity to sink its small yet sharp teeth into Rocket's side and inflict a nasty amount of damage to the starter.

Once again, Will found himself running to Rocket's rescue. Preoccupied with its Bite attack, the Lillipup attacking Rocket could not hear or smell Will coming. But his two companions gave him ample warning of the approaching human and he heeded them, releasing Rocket from his teeth and knocking him to the ground with a quick Tackle before retreating into the brush with his two companions.

Will already had a potion in his hand as he knelt down by Rocket's side and picked the haphazard Oshawott up. "I know it would be wrong for me to fault you again," he said as evenly as he could, trying to hide the frustration he had with his new Pokémon, "Once again, I didn't give you the full order. But to be fair, you didn't stick around to hear it…" Will finished tending to Rocket's newest wound and tucked the potion away, standing and clapping the dirt off of his hands. "But that's behind us now, right? I'm sure the next one will go better."

…

**Four and a half minutes later…**

**Pidove, the Tiny Pigeon Pokémon. For generations before the-**

"Woooooott!" Rocket was flung backwards by the Pidove's Wing attack, skidding to a stop just in front of Will's feet. His scalchop clattered off of a rock and into the grass not too far away. The Pidove turned around and flew away.

"Oh, come on!" Will disgruntledly shouted, dropping the Pokèdex into the soft grass as it continued to prattle on about the origins of Pidove's city-dwelling instincts. "You didn't even let it finish that time!"

"Osha wooott…" Rocket deliriously moaned, his head still spinning. _What time is it? Is it dinner time…_

Once again Will pulled the potion out of his bag before reaching Rocket, but this time his hands were clenched much more furiously around it. He promptly picked Rocket up upon reaching him and plopped him on his posterior, spraying the afflicted area and curtly standing back up.

"Rocket, allow me to make myself perfectly clear," Will sternly declared, cowering over Rocket with his arms crossed, "I am your Trainer. You are my Pokémon. I like to think of us as equals, you and I. There's time to fool around and there's time to improvise, but frankly I don't marry those two occasions when I'm telling you what to do. I'm head-honcho here, and while I don't want any of you to be afraid to make suggestions and work with me, I'm in charge. That's CEO, head-honcho, ipso-facto, case-o closed-o. Got it?"

Feeling completely naked and defenseless without his shell, aside from completely overshadowed, Rocket could do nothing but meekly nod.

Will sighed, the heavy weight lifted off of his chest. He turned to retrieve his Pokèdex somewhere in the grass behind him.

"Glad we've gotten that out of the way," he mumbled in relief. He had not at all intended to be harsh or demeaning towards Rocket. He was only asserting himself as the alpha of the group, something every teacher and instructional video he had ever watched or listened two had instructed him to do. Pokémon would not listen to a Trainer without respect, which could only be obtained through speaking one's mind. A Pokémon would need to know a Trainer's honest platform before making any lasting judgments about them.

Of course it would be different for others along the way, this he knew from training Cell, but Will hoped a firm yet respectful reminder would be all that Rocket needed.

He spotted his Pokèdex in the grass and bent down to pick it up. "I'm glad we've reached an understanding, then," he said to his Pokémon, "Let's move on, team. That was my last potion though, so until we buy more we should-"

"Doooove!" Will heard the familiar warble of a Pidove nearby. Perhaps the very same one he had just seen, but he could not tell on account of him being turned around.

"Oshawah!" He then heard the telltale _snap-hiss_ of Rocket's Razor Shell attack activating followed by the patter of his little feet through the grass.

"OH, COME ON!"

Cell was very pleased with himself at that given moment.

…

"Come on, baby, come on…"

On his hands and knees and crouching low to the ground, Will let out another gentle puff on the smoldering teepee of twigs he had made in the center of his campsite. So far he had followed every instruction on building a fire to the letter; he found a dry spot in the center of a clearing, dug a put, surrounded it with stones and then assembled the kindling in its triangular shape to prepare for ignition.

The main problem being that it was spring and almost everything was wet from seasonal rain. "April showers bring May flowers" or so they said.

Well, it was only March and Will was allergic to most types of local flowers anyway, so that did nothing for him. All it _did _do was make firewood harder to find. Between himself, Cell and Rocket, they had only been able to come up with a few dry twigs. Will then improvised with some dried grasses and leaves to feed the flames, for without fuel an entire book of matches was completely useless save for kindling itself.

He had already wasted four matches and was on the verge of becoming too frustrated to continue at a rational pace. Every time he desired to let out a might puff and just get it all over with, he quickly managed to remind himself that the tiny flames that was being born in the fire pit would be extinguished in a second if he did that.

"C'mon already…" Will sat up cross-legged and stared angrily at the tiny fire as if to set it ablaze with his mind, "Why won't you start?"

Cell, relaxing by Will's small tent with his open can of Pokémon food, decided to chime in. "So losis so?" _Maybe you're doing it wrong?_

Will rolled his eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Fire Expert," he said sarcastically over his shoulder, "Maybe you could give me a few tips! Show me how to do it correctly. You know, like a _hands _on demonstration."

"So losis…" _Low blow…_

"Well, that'll have to do for now…" Will leaned back and admired his mediocre fire. Even with his proximity he could barely feel its warmth, but for tonight it would have to do. He wouldn't need it for the whole night anyway; only a fool would leave a fire of any size burning unattended.

Will grabbed his blanket from behind him and bundled it up into a makeshift pillow. He laid down and spread his arms and legs out as far as he could, becoming fully relaxed as he stretched out. Taking in and letting out one deep breath of fresh forest air, Will gazed up at the starry ceiling above him.

Stargazing had always been one of his favorite actives as a child. Some were perplexed and some even afraid by the infinite wonder of the space above them, but that was not Will. He had forever been astounded by the night sky. Just one look at its celestial majesty could take him captive for an entire night.

It seemed though like an ill-fated hobby for a city dweller such as William, whose view of the stars and what lay beyond them was often blocked by smog and light pollution if not buildings themselves.

To get an adequate look, the kind that only an avid stargazer like Will would accept, he'd have to venture outside of human territory and into the wild. The problem still proved to be his setting; anywhere outside of Viridian City where Will could observe the stars unobstructed was too far for his parent's to allow him to traverse on his own. And anywhere in or around Icirrus City was covered in snow. Remaining face-up in the snow for even an hour ran the risk of hypothermia.

One of his very first thoughts as he took those first few steps out of Nuvema Town with Cheren and Bianca was of all the stargazing he'd be able to do while on the road. It was only night one, and things were looking swell on that front.

"Huh?" Will looked up suddenly. A disturbing rustle had come from that direction in the bushes. And while nothing too threatening was said to live in the area, he had to be one hundred percent certain his face wasn't about to be eaten off by some monster Pokémon.

As he got to his feet, he quickly ruled out the only two possibilities he'd be entirely comfortable with: Cell and Rocket. Cell was still relaxing by the tent and Rocket was fast asleep, rightfully tuckered out from his three humiliating defeats.

"Cell," he whispered urgently as he slowly crept towards the bushes. The Solosis looked tiredly up at him, cocking an eye.

"So solooo?" he said snidely. _I thought you were trying to train Rocket, huh?_

Will rolled his eyes. "Could you possibly sass me later? I think I'd rather you handle this one. You know: the possible murder of all three of us. But whatever, I mean, if you want to sleep…"

"Solo, solo, solo…" _Okay, okay, okay…_

Cell drifted, albeit not to happily, towards Will as the rustling began to increase in frequency. Will could not see it, but he could hear it and it was definitely getting closer. He narrowed his eyes, peering through the darkness that prevailed in the trees. It had to be there somewhere…

_There! _Just on the borders of his limited line of sight, Will could see a bush rustling. The motion very quickly stopped, however, and left Will as literally and metaphorically blind he had been only second ago.

But then it happened again. Only this time the bush was closer. And then again and closer. Whatever was causing the rustling in the bushes was continuing to advance on Will's campsite. And it was beginning to look like he'd have to defend himself.

"You ready, buddy?" he asked Cell.

Cell nodded. "Solos…"

"We strike first," he declared, concentrating on the bushes, "No sense in letting anything get the drop on us."

"Lo solo," agreed Cell again.

"Alright…here it comes." The source was now virtually upon them, occupying the nearest bush to their campsite. "On the count of three…one…two…thr-"

"Uhhhhnnn…" came the reply from the bush.

Will stopped his count and exchanged a nervous glance with Cell. The sound had been very human and on that logic, reason recommended that he reconsider his action. But the zombie-like moan had done nothing if not make Will want to attack more.

He licked his dry lips. "Okay, Cell, what you're gonna do is attack as hard as you-"

"Wiiiilll…" moaned the bush once more, sending shivers down both Will and Cell's spine.

Of course, Cell didn't have a spine, but that's beside the point.

"What you're going to do," instructed Will in below a hushed whisper, "Is you're going to kill whatever is-"

Suddenly, the source of the noise burst out of the bushes, causing both Will and Cell to flinch and leap backwards in surprise. The two quickly relaxed, however, and realized they were in no danger. The mysterious source of the groaning sound that ambled slowly towards them could have been stopped with more ease than a Slowpoke of Thanksgiving.

Letting out one more moan, Bianca flopped face first on the ground next to Will's campfire. Her blouse and skirt were covered in leaves and twigs and other forest unpleasantries. From the looks of it, Bianca had had a very tough.

Will edged tentatively closer to make sure that she was okay. She simply lied there, her face in the dirt and her posterior sticking up into the air.

"Uh, Bianca? You okay?" inquired Will.

"Yeah…" she dimly responded, her voice muffled by the ground, "I'm just really tired and really hungry…"

"You didn't bring your own food?"

"I ate it…" responded Bianca, a twinge of guilt in her voice.

"All of it!? How much did you bring?"

"Oh, you know. A couple of granola bars, some yogurt, some candy…"

Will raised an eyebrow. "Some _candy_?"

"Alright, a _lot _of candy," admitted Bianca with a sigh.

"And you ate it all?"

"Yup."

"All of it?"

"Uh-huh."

"There's none left now?"

"Nope."

"So you need mine?"

"If you wouldn't mind."

Rolling his eyes, Will stepped over it his satchel and began to rifle through his bag. He was not at all troubled with having to share his food with a friend and need. That would be selfish. Will was only worried that having to do so would become a common theme on his journey.

Will pulled out a couple of granola bars and some dried fruit, not knowing whether or not Bianca favored meat and forgoing the dried jerky for the time being. He had plenty of similar rations in his bag; nothing too luxurious. He maximized the amount of food he could take with him (or rather his mother had) by stocking himself chiefly with travel rations. Over the course of his first day he had only consumed four granola bars, two small bags of dried fruit and some jerky, which he had hoped he could heat over a fire. Will had more than enough rations to last him until Accumula Town.

But some nagging feeling deep down told him that his current stock would somehow diminish more rapidly now that Bianca had joined.

"Here you go," Will begrudgingly offered to Bianca. She didn't even acknowledge him.

"Just leave it there…I'll get to it eventually…"

He almost couldn't help himself but drop the food rather tartly and be done with Bianca for the night. That in and of itself still would have been kinder than turning her away!

But Will had been raised better than that. It was almost as if as he prepared to do something rash and rude, his mother's voice rang out in his head and reminded him, _Temper, temper, temper! Now's not the time for that!_

"You can stay here with me for the night if you want," added Will, heading back towards his own equipment, "I'm going to bed. If you plan on staying up, I'd appreciate it if you put out that fire before you went to sleep."

For a moment Bianca did not respond. Will sat down and began to unable his blanket and lay his bedroll flat on the ground. He began to press down on it in several areas to make it more comfortable for sleeping, when Bianca then spoke up.

"Hey Will?" she meekly mewed in a tone that all but told Will she was going to ask for something.

He sighed. "Yes?" he answered less than enthusiastically.

"I forgot my bedroll at home…"

Will paused, considering teaching Bianca a lesson for her carelessness and not pampering her any more than he already was. But his eyes drifted to Cell, who gave him a mischievous glare. If he could speak any human language, Will guessed he would be snidely incriminating Will's decisions and saying something along the lines of, _"Well, you _did _say you'd help her, didn't you Mr. Goodwill?_

Nevertheless, the teen couldn't help but feel both guilty and like he was being paid back for the "Mr. Fire Expert" and "no hands" remarks.

"You petty little ingrate…" he muttered under his breath, shooting Cell as sideways glance as he got to his feet with bedroll in hand. _Well, I didn't want to be comfortable tonight anyway…_

Will laid the bedroll down next to Bianca, still lying motionless in the dirt in her exhaustion and acknowledged his gesture with nothing more than a tired groan. If she had touched her food yet, which she had not, Will might have just accused her of taking advantage of him or being generally lazy.

He discounted an capacity for Bianca to be that selfish and put full faith in her ability to completely exhaust herself in the matter of a few leagues.

On his way several-step return trip to his tent, Will could almost feel his back beginning to ache as an early prelude to spending the night on the cold hard ground. _At least I can use my extra blanket as a pillow…_

Hopefully, he dug through his bag and pulled out said blanket to supplement use with his own. Just as, of course, Bianca mewed for assistance once more.

"Hey Will…?"

"Y-yeah…?"

"I forgot my blanket, too…"

Cell, again, was very pleased at that given moment and would be for the rest of the night.

…

Another foolish mistake. Perhaps it would turn out to be its _last _mistake. And maybe it hadn't been as foolish as it had been doomed or ill-fated. Nevertheless it was a mistake that would soon result in the Pokémon's capture.

Not capture within a Pokèball, mind you. This capture would be of a very unorthodox, unfriendly, and otherwise frowned upon method. It was that which some would call cruel and heinous, and others would call "the old fashioned way."

Pokémon hunting. A game plaid for either human entertainment or human money. Two of their most corrupting features.

Route 20 of Unova's western regions was well wet and muddied from the previous day's heavy rainfall. Newborn leaves littered the ground and hung heavy from their tree branches. As the fleeing Pokémon raced away from its pursuers, its shaggy mane was easily caught within the wet branches, thus slowing it down. Mistake number one.

Said Pokémon had then banked on the hope that it would be able to allude its captors by heading towards the element in which it was most fluent in movement: water. Its small hooves had excellent traction on the shiny wet pebbles that dotted the nearby river's coast and it would easily be able to lose the hunters on the other side.

The wet leaves clinging to its hooves were not quite as good at gripping solid ground. It failed to realize this fact and slipped haphazardly on the stones and into the water, giving the hunters even more time to catch up. Mistake number two.

Now the hunters were upon it. There was nowhere left to run, or at least nowhere close enough for him to run to. Any further planning would require time that it did not have. Left now without the option of flight, the Pokémon had but one faint hope on escaping.

And there it made mistake number three.

Had it attacked the pursuers head-on, surprising them, maybe it would have had a chance. Had it hidden itself and waited for the pursuers to come to it in order to stage an ambush, maybe it would have had a chance. If it had put even a smidgeon of developed thought into its plan, maybe it could have hoped against all hope for a chance.

But the young Pokémon made a grace mistake. By making what it thought to be an honorable move it made the greatest mistake of all. It mistook humans for honorable creatures.

At least, this pair was not.

The Pokémon could now hear the loud _clip-clop clip-clop _its hooves made as they pounded on the stone floor of the rocky outcropping it had fled into. An educated outcome of the otherwise uneducated decision gave the beast at least some manner of advantage over his opponents; as they could hear its step, he could hear theirs.

Its thought was in the right place with its plan. But its mind was not.

Looking up ahead would have seemed like a wall was rushing towards the Pokémon, which was the opposite of what was going on. It had nearly reached the dead end that it intentionally raced towards. The end of the line and of mistake number three.

"I see it! Up ahead!" cried a female human's voice from behind. For all the running and physical work that the Pokémon had forced her to do in order to catch up, she seemed to be very collected.

"'Ere she is!" the accented male voice responded, only using "she" as a pseudo slang term for the object he described. In actuality, that was not the Pokémon's gender.

The Pokémon skidded to a stop, sliding several meters on its wet hooves. It reared and turned to face the hunters with its horn pointed menacingly in their general direction. To him, it was a warning gesture.

To the hunters, it was an invitation to get in close and finish the job. The pair had poached enough Pokémon to know when visible signs of entrapment and resignation were showing. And these were them.

"Stoutland! Get in there and wipe 'im out!"

"Rowf rowf!" responded the great furry mastiff Pokémon as it bounded forward at speeds unattainable by its human masters. Although most of its bulk and height could be attributed to fur mass, Stoutland was easily as big if not bigger than their quarry.

The hunted Pokémon shakily lowered its head, pointing the stubby horn adorning his forehead at the oncoming Stoutland like the mouth of a cannon. He took one deep breath and mentally braced himself. He'd get only one shot at this and one shot only.

Not that it mattered of course. The mistake had already been made.

Trying to sound as fearsome as it possibly could, and failing for the most part, the creature let out an angered bray and launched a gusher of water at the Stoutland from his horn, aiming to knock the creature right back down.

Stoutland leapt to the side and avoided the attack with ease. Now he was in striking distance and there was nothing the other Pokémon could do about it.

In pure shock of its missed attack, the creature relaxed on its haunches, perplexed and filled with fear. Which gave Stoutalnd the perfect opportunity to strike.

"Stun the bloke with Thunah Fang!" shouted the foreigner as he and his companion began to gain significant ground on their prize. The hunt was nearing the end and they could feel it, adrenaline adding a spring to their step.

It was time to cash in.

"Rowf!" barked Stoutland in response, halting his bounding strides to surmount his final motion into one last leapt. His arc took him a good ten feet into the air and he bore straight down on his weakened target. Friction and static electricity built up in sharp teeth as pure electricity exploded around them.

Stoutland's teeth met the creature's neck before it even hit the ground. When it did, its superior strength and willpower allowed it to lift the demoralized Pokémon right off of its hooves and and shake it back and forth like it was a toy, electricity coursing through its body.

Releasing the Pokémon from its jaws, Stoutland flung it against the rocky walls where it made contact with a sickening crack. It landed on its side and made one brief attempt to get back up.

"Psh," snickered the accented man as he and his female counterpart finally caught up with Stoutland, "Stay down, mate. It'll be easier that way."

It seemed that the creature complied. Residual electricity coursed through its fur and gave its neural system a nice little call. The creature twitched and fell flat on the ground and remained that way, unmoving.

The man, woman and Stoutland watched it for a moment, expecting more resistance. A stubborn one, that Pokémon had been. Almost like it had some sort of misguided sense of nobility that didn't agree with the tactics employed by the hunters.

Too bad for it, they reasoned. People like them always brought up the argument that natural selection and all that other Darwinian nonsense would've fixed their brains to avoid this stuff if it weren't right.

But alas, it seemed that once again the mighty Pyroar had claimed its tasty Sawsbuck and would now feast.

Metaphorically of course. If the hunters planned on eating something valuable, they might as well have gone with solid gold. It wouldn't have been as wasteful as eating this particular prize.

The man, a stringy yet well-muscled blonde man dressed almost exclusively in red, sauntered over to the unconscious Pokémon. He whistled to himself as he rolled up the coil of rope in his fist and bent down next to the Pokémon.

"Check it 'at, Sammy girl," he said as he began to hog tie the beast, "I know a lot a things about money, love, I'll guarantee ya that. But I never could imagine in me wildest dreams that so much of its could walk on four little legs like this 'lil brumby." He prodded the creature's ribcage with his steel-toed boots to identify it to his partner.

Who, speaking of, was busy rolling her eyes as she saw to Stoutland. "Please don't damage the merchandise. Hunter Jay doesn't buy banged up Pokémon. This thing has to look like a show-Ponyta when we give it to her."

"Which is what I don't get," he responded, leaning up against the rocky wall, "Perhaps you could explain it to me, love."

"It's just our lot in life, Syd." She tightened the girth of the harness around Stoutland's neck, which would be attached to tarp that their prize would be placed on, and then towed back to their vehicle with. "We're two nobody mercs and Jay is the most infamous Pokémon Hunter there is. She knows all the good Pokémon brokers and black market moguls, and a Pokémon from her has quite the seal of approval. Who cares who gets to be the middleman as long as we get paid good money?"

"Crikey, Sam! You're not makin' any sense to me!" The male hunter placed one foot atop his captive and stood like a war hero atop a pile of his vanquished enemies, shoulders pointed up and chest puffed out. "I'm mighty, the incorrigible, the irredeemable Sydney Orion! Men wanna be me, and ladies wanna be _with _me."

Samantha, once again, rolled her eyes. She brushed a strand of sweaty black hair out of her eyes and stood, having finally adjusted Stoutland's harness correctly.

"Got a little too carried away with the big words, O Mighty Orion. Now c'mon, help me load that thing onto the tarp."

"Alright, alright." Disgruntld, Sydney stepped off of the beast and began dragging it towards the tarp hooked up to Stoutland. For a small Pokémon, he sure was heavy. With one great heave Sydney lifted him successfully up and onto the tarp. He cockily eyed Samantha and flashed a pearly white smile.

"There ya go, Sammy girl. How's that?"

"Fine, for now," she curtly responded and began to walk in the opposite direction, out of the small canyon, "We'll heal it up as best we can once we get back to the truck and be at the rendezvous in three days. If Jay is there any longer than she wants to be and we miss this deal, than we're gonna be hard pressed to sell this thing. Very few people out there would take us seriously if we told them we'd gotten our hands on this."

Sydney licked his lips. "Oh, money is money, Sam. I don't care if it's your Great Auntie Margaret that we sell it to, so long as we get paid." He hungrily snuck a glimpse at the captive Pokémon being dragged along by Stoutland. He was hungry not for meat, but for cold-hard cash. And this little guy was gonna bring him lots of it.

"Hear that, mate? You're gonna make a lot of people very, very happy…"

Unless you were count the opening of Mistralton City's very first bowling alley several hours ago, or the birth of future multislot Pokèball creator Zatana Markos only fifty three minutes prior, this was the last significant even to occur on that night in history.

One last mistake.

For in total, four had been made in the entirety of that chase. Three had been made by the hunted and one by the hunters.

The humans known as Sydney Orion and Samantha Kurumi had been right when Sydney had told the captured Pokémon that it would soon bring joy (and monetary gain) to other humans.

There was no area in which he had been wrong, only ignorant.

Once again, he was indeed right that the Pokémon was going to bring joy (and, once again, monetary gain) to other humans. But they had unwittingly brought anger from not humans, but Pokémon.

Three specific Pokémon.

* * *

**Dun dun duuuuuuuun! What significance does the capture of this strange Pokemon signify? What was the Pokemon, and who was paying the hunters to capture it? What shall Will, his Pokemon (and now Bianca) encounter on their second day as Pokemon Trainers? Find out next time in:**

_**Chapter 7: The River**_

**Not much in the way of news...for Pokemon, that is. Personally, I've got to announce that the next few weeks will be very busy for me, even more so than usual, and FanFiction has to be moved a bit down my priority list temporarily during that time. I've still got several chapters finished and ready to go for this story, so don't worry, but my other stories will still have to wait for the time being. I know I've been inconsistent with my updates for my other stories, and I promise to get back to them for those of you who care, but for now it cannot be helped.**

**On a lighter note, it's Reader Question time! This week, I want to know what your favorite non-Pokemon Nintendo franchise is. These folks put out a lot more than our beloved Pokemon, so which series of theirs besides Pocket Monsters is your fav?**

**FIRE EMBLEM FTW!**

**Review please, and I'll see you next week for more updatey goodness!**


	8. Chapter 7: The River

**There come time when we cannot distinguish dreams from reality. As a living and feeling being, that cannot be helped. There exists a very fine line between the two states, but thought both conscious and unconscious has its ways of wavering our perception of such. Sometimes, we cannot tell the difference. Sometimes we wish we could, and sometimes we wish we could not. Other times, it would be better just as sometimes it would be better if we could. For sometimes we simply did not know how important a dream can be.**

_**-Excerpt from "The Hero of Unova," a biography by Lucina Hale-Grey**_

* * *

**Chapter 7: The River**

_"Druddigon, use Dragon Claw!" ordered the Trainer on the red side, beads of sweat pooling on his forehead and his hands clenched into fists. Normally calm was this Trainer's staple, for he was ranked number one in the Pokémon League worldwide and had rightfully so earned that title. Few challengers could ever even land a hit on his Pokémon. _

_But not this one. This challenger was different, able to match him pound for pound and even outsmart him on more than one occasion. He had to be dealt with quickly or else he'd be able to formulate another genius plan. If this Trainer wanted to win this last battle in the 2014 Unova League, he'd be hard pressed to earn it._

_"Drudiiih!"_

_The snarling burly Dragon-Type raised one of its club-like arms and charged for the ovular Pokémon floating at the other end of the field, patiently awaiting its Trainer's orders._

_Said other Trainer grinned. His overzealous opponent had made a rash move and would soon pay for it. For he had just walked into this Trainer's brilliantly laid trap. It was high time for the steely jaws of the trick to clamp down and claim a final victim. _

_"Cell, use Rollout!" he calmly ordered, hands in his pocket._

_The Solosis simply nodded and rolled forward like a locomotive, barreling straight for Druddigon's chest._

_The other Trainer gasped. "H-how could I be so foolish!? His genius plot has foiled me once again!"_

_Cell launched into Druddigon's chest and sent the blue scaled Dragon-Type sliding all the way back to its Trainer's feet. There was no question of the result._

_"Druddigon is unable to battle! William Grey is the victor!"_

_A cheer strong enough to crack a mountain in two rose up from the crowd in recognition of their champion. The __**new **__Champion. As if there had been any question of who would win from the start._

_Patrons, eager to greet the rising star, flooded the field and hoisted him on their shoulders, merrily cheering for him._

_"William Grey!" called the announcer as confetti rained down on the field, mixed with what seemed to be money, "Not only are you now the Champion of the entire Pokémon League, we've also conducted a unanimous vote to establish you as President of the Universe!"_

_Another cheer went up and the crowd began to chant his name. "Wi-il! Wi-il! Wi-il!"_

_"People, people, please. Calm yourselves," he urged his adoring public, "There's plenty of me to go a-"_

_Everyone was cheering. Celebrating like someone (probably him) had just heralded in world peace. But prevailing through all of the cheering, like the dull thud of a migraine over all other sound, was a song. Contrasting with the cheering it was light and grim. Soothing and searing. Although this amount of celebration would have been able to deafen out the sounds of an atomic blast on any normal occasion, the song seemed to prevail._

_"Nature, nurture, heaven and home_

_Sum of all and by them driven_

_To conquer every mountain shown_

_But I've never crossed the river."_

_Craning his neck, Will searched the crowd and quickly found an outlier. Everyone was celebrating and cheering like wild. All except for one woman._

_She sat upon a stump that had miraculously sprouted perfectly in the center of the battlefield. Its oaken roots curled out onto both sides of the field where red and blue had somehow been replaced with the colors of black and white._

_The woman appeared to be about a head shorter than Will but much older, probably about her mid-twenties. Her attire was an odd mix of modern and period clothing. She wore sandals and colorful tights under a ruffled grey skirt that went down to her knees. Over a thin, weathered wool jacket she wore a torn jean jacket, and a camo tank top under all of that. _

_Around both of her arms were bracelets and arm bands from a multitude of time periods ranging from rainbow colored bands to rubber bracelets with modern pop culture phrases on them to a couple of leather and steel bracers that looked like they belonged in a museum. Her neck sported a single necklace, but Will could not tell what was attached to the chain._

_Her face's plain expression quite contrasted her outrageous outfit, and nothing was done to her long black hair save for a black feather nocked behind her ear. Probably the most defining feature of all was the acoustic guitar resting on her lap which had produced the melodious sounds Will had heard earlier._

_She looked into his eyes. Her gaze went far, far past his eyes and bore deep into his soul. Just when Will felt as if his head were to explode from the pure pressure her eyes injected into his body, she strummed a slow cord on her guitar._

_In a flash, everything went white. As all senses of being and place faded from Will's mind, the chanting continued._

_"Wi-il! Wi-il! Wi-il!"_

_…..._

"Will…Wiiiiilll…Will!"

What had been a shrill whisper quickly became a sharp hiss. A prodding sensation on his forehead quickly became a sharp jab and a nail dug into his skin. Will snapped awake and batted away the source of the poking and shot straight up. He found his face uncomfortably close to Bianca's.

Said blonde blinked twice out of nervousness and got her bearings. A smile spread across her once wary face and she waved pleasantly to Will despite him being inches in front of her.

"Mornin'!" she said cheerily, scooching back a bit. "Sleep well?"

"Not very…" Will put pressure on his sore spine. It hadn't exactly been a mystery how spending a night on the cold hard ground would make a person feel. Though sadly, Will had been forced to discover firsthand results. Along with his lower and upper back including his shoulders, Will felt pain in his neck, thighs, calves and legs.

At least Bianca had slept well on _his _bedroll. With _his_ blanket. Under _his_ tent. The other teen seemed as bubbly and chipper as usually. Her hair and clothing, which she had slept in, seemed to be a bit tousled. At the moment she was not wearing her staple barrette.

Despite her bright demeanor, there seemed to be something on her mind. After greeting Will, her smile turned back into a slight frown and her brow creased.

"What's the matter?" he asked, sitting up. He looked behind him to Cell and Rocket, who were still both fast asleep. Amidst their slumber, Rocket's head had tilted over and leaned atop Cell's body resulting in an adorable yet unknown moment shared by the two. If something hadn't been the matter with Bianca, Will might have taken a picture.

But apparently that was a luxury he couldn't spare precious seconds on. Bianca continued to prod him the second he turned around. Glaring, he whipped his head back around to bear on her. She quickly withdrew her finger and held it like it had been bitten.

"What!?" snapped Will, already cranky from his rude awakening. He had been having a good dream and wasn't too thrilled with Bianca taking him out of it as it was.

"S-sorry…" she muttered, having only been trying to help, "But there was this weird singing coming from in the forest…I thought you might have wanted to know…"

Intrigued, Will sat up more and relaxed. "Weird singing? What do you mean?"

"Like, I heard a lady playing the guitar and singing." Bianca shivered and then hugged herself. "The words were kinda creepy…"

As if on cue, the music drifted back into their camp like a lazy breeze. Bianca shivered again, haunted by the melodic strumming of the guitar and the. And even Will had to admit that he was at first stupefied by the music.

For it was the exact same song he had heard in his dream. Not the same lyrics, perhaps a different verse, but the tempo and tone continued on all the same. It continued as such:

_Braved the forests, braved the stone_

_Braved the icy winds and fire_

_Braved and beat them on my own_

_Yet I'm helpless by the river…_

Will threw off his blanket and jumped up, bolting for his belongings. He quickly located his shoes and began to stuff his feet into them as Bianca, still cowering, raised her head above her knees high enough to spy Will departing.

"W-where are you going?"

"Wherever that music is coming from!" he declared, grabbing his jacket off of the ground and stuffing his arms into the sleeves, "I have to find out who's playing that music!"

Bianca gulped. No Will meant no protection. "D-do you _have _to?"

He paused, his second arm halfway into its sleeve. That question had been surprisingly thought-out and existential for Bianca. Did he really have to? If so, who or what was telling him or determining that it was? Was this an answer he wanted to know?

_Yes, _he affirmed and continued to dress, _Yes it was._

"Cell," he whispered, taking care not to wake Rocket, "Cell, wake up, buddy. Need ya for a minute."

"Sooooo…" squeaked the Solosis in his version of a yawn, lifting slightly off of the ground and shaking his head. _Where's the fire?_

"C'mon, follow me." Will beckoned for Cell to follow behind him and made for the tree line from which Bianca had emerged only hours past in yesterday's night. "Bianca, watch my stuff! I'll be right back!"

Will pushed two bushes to the side in order to make a pathway for himself into the trees and began to wade into the brush, eventually disappearing in the wall of greens and browns. Still barely awake and not sharing his Trainer's enthusiasm to solve the mystery of which he still had barely any knowledge, Cell slowly followed.

"O-okay!" Bianca responded after a moment's hesitance. She was still a little shocked from Will's sudden departure and leaving her stranded on her own.

_B-but there can't be _that _many dangerous Pokémon in this forest, right? _Bianca convinced herself, laying down flat on the bedroll and folding her hands on her stomach and twiddling her thumbs out of nervousness. _Just relax, Bianca. Don't panic. Remember what Cheren told you. Nothing bad will come to me if I just…if I just re…relax…_

Within twenty eight seconds of her first (and last) burst of fear that Will was leaving her alone in the forest to fend for herself, Bianca Belle had fallen back asleep and would remain that way until Will returned.

The most threatening thing a Pokémon did to her whilst alone came when a disgruntled Patrat crawled out of its den to shake its fist and chitter spicily worded complaints about Bianca's snoring.

Defeating the purpose of the complaints and only serving to tire out the Patrat, they and the haunting music that Will made off to investigate were drowned out by the snores.

…

_"Angel, angel, what have I done?_

_I've faced the ice, the wind, the fire_

_I've conquered country, crown and throne_

_Why can't I cross this river?"_

Counting what he had heard within his dream, this was the third serene verse that Will had heard come from the mysterious source and their guitar. It spurred him to move even faster, hastily shoving aside trees and bushes and leaping over rocks and logs.

Sometimes minus the leaping part due to his haste. Every time he stumbled though, Will managed to pick himself back up and keep going.

Amidst his running, he had manage to answer Bianca's question. Yes, he _had _to know where this song was coming from. It couldn't just have been him coincidentally hearing someone practicing guitar in the middle of the forest. The song had come through far too vividly in his dream for it to have been carried through the air to him, and he had never heard it before in his life.

Besides, who practices guitar in the forest anyway?

If Will were any more superstitious than he already was (which is to say not very) he might have seen this as some sort of omen or cosmic sign. But that was a load of bologna and everyone knew it.

Another verse hummed through the trees causing Will's heart to flutter. It was coming through much more clearly now; he was getting closer.

_"Pay no mind to the battles you've won_

_It'll take a lot more than rage and muscle_

_Open your heart and hands my son_

_Or you'll never make it over the river."_

"We're getting closer!" declared Will in order to boost Cell's moral (which was to say very low). While Cell admired his Trainer's enthusiasm, whatever he was woken up at the crack of dawn for would have to be rather important.

Songs in the woods were not rather important. Not even _somewhat_ important. They were important to Will and not to Cell and when ordeals came to the matter of sleep, they did not always line up.

_"It'll take a lot more than words and guns_

_A whole lot more than riches and muscle_

_The hands of the many must join as one_

_And together we'll cross the river."_

_Almost there! _The last verse had been very clear and easily heard like it were being spoken right to him. Lying under the sweet melody, Will could hear the gentle babble of a nearby river or brook.

"I've had enough existentialism for one day," he mumbled to himself, "Let's hope this song is being quite literal."

Finally, he burst through the trees and out of the thick woods. Panting slightly, he came to terms with his surroundings. There was indeed a river before him, short in depth but large in width, that ran with clear trickling water. There was a grass bank on the other side similar to that on which he stood.

Will didn't forget about the music for more than a second and immediately searched for the source. And it didn't take him too long to find it.

It wasn't so much the source itself that directed Will _to _the source, rather the small audience of Pokémon gathered around it and listening entrancedly. There were Patrats and Lillipup on the ground, perhaps the same ones he had seen yesterday. A Pidove or two listened from the trees, and a Basculin tread against the weak current just to hear her song. They were gathered around a stump at the bank of the river, and Will gasped when he saw who sat atop it.

It was the woman. The exact same woman from his dreams.

Every single detail was the same. Everything about her matched what Will had seen in his dream to the letter. The clothes, the hair, the arm bands. Everything. The mysterious necklace was present too, but it was now tucked into her shirt.

Heedless of her new company in Will and Cell, the woman continued to strum her guitar and sing her sweet song. She must have truly been a master at playing the instrument for she could do so with her eyes closer, as she was now.

_"It'll take a lot more than words and guns_

_A whole lot more than riches and muscle_

_Open your heart and hands my son_

_Or you'll never make it over the river."_

She gave her guitar one last strum over all six cords and then rested her hand on the its body. Her Pokémon audience gave her their version of a standing ovation, which consisted of chitters, chirps and howls. Taking a deep breath in through her nose and then out through her mouth, the woman opened her amber eyes and winked at Will.

"Dig my song?" she asked leisurely, lifting one of her legs up onto the stump. She had apparently noticed Will and Cell before even the Pokémon had, and they scattered when they finally did. The Patrats and Lilipup scampered for the woods, the Pidove fluttered away and the Basculin dove under the water and swam away with the current. The woman giggled.

"They don't like people, but they sure do dig music. Guess song is just a usual language, dig?"

"Why do you keep saying 'dig?'" wondered Will, skating around the obvious questions.

"That's what all the kids are saying now, right?" She asked as if she wanted to be sure but wasn't. "Like, 'hey dog, what's the haps? Ya dig?' Like that."

Will scratched his head. "Well, maybe when my mother was my age, but I'm not really sure about now…"

"Oh well. Times change, people change." Indifferently, the woman began to tune her guitar, and it seemed, Will out.

"I-I mean, I don't want to insult the way you talk," stammered Will, trying desperately to make sure she didn't lose interest in him. She seemed like the kind of person who could do such a thing and he still needed answers. "I haven't seen much of the world, so…I guess that could still be the way people talk somewhere…"

Looking up from her guitar, the woman grinned at Will and winked. "Taking into account societal conventions. I like that."

"W-what?"

"Nothin'. Just throwin' ideas against the wall. Seein' what sticks, ya dig?"

"Yeah, actually, I do." Will remembered how he had said some of the very same words to Cheren two days ago after their battle. While Will would be the first person to admit that his often worrisome personality would not permit him to be as laid back and 'go with the flow' as this woman seemed, she spoke of a similar method of thinking Will often used, evident in his last battle with Cheren.

Will took a few steps closer to her, not wanting to seem too alienated. "Hey…are you a Pokémon Trainer?"

"I don't really consider myself one," she answered, looking back at the strings of her instrument, "Why?"

"Oh, well, uh…never mind." Will scratched his head and looked away. That had come across a bit awkwardly. He tried another question, this one less ambiguous, as he worked his way towards the answers.

He could just well go up to her and say "I just saw you in my dreams." There were a lot of things Will imagined that he could say to drive someone away and that was pretty high up on the list.

"So…why are you playing music out here?"

Once again, the woman smiled. "You know, that brings up a good point I've been wondering about," she said, leaving her guitar against the stump, "Why do people ask these questions? When a Combee is off gathering honey, how often does another Combee come up to it and ask 'Hey dude, why are ya doin' that?'"

"Not very often, I'd imagine," responded Will.

"Right! And when a Lilipup is chasing its tail, the chances of another Lilipup coming up to it and asking 'Why are you chasing your tail, buddy?'"

Will rocked back and forth on his heels. "Uh…you're kinda losing me…"

She giggled. "My point is that the Lilipup and the Combee are just doin' what they do. And no one else asks why because that's just what they _do_. Combee get honey cause they need to eat and Lilipup chase their tails cause in makes them happy! So I don't get why a gal can't just practice her music in the woods at whatever hour she wants without getting' asked 'Why?' by some passerby. There's always a reason for everything, even if there don't seem to be one."

"I-I'm sorry!" stammered Will, waving his hands defensively, "I-I didn't mean to-"

"Chill, dude. I'm just messin'." She picked up her guitar and laid it flat on her lap, placing both of her sandaled feet flat on the ground. Will noted the mischievous flare in her eyes and wished he had noticed before instead of making a fool of himself.

"Oh…sorr-"

"Stop bein' sorry! Yeesh, you act like you just woke up from a weird dream or somethin'."

_You have no idea…_Had she not already been messing with him, Will probably would have gotten the impression that she was messing with him. Not just in her joking but in her actions as well. In the dream, she had seemed so foreboding.

If he had seen her at all and this wasn't just a trick of his mind…

On several occasions, Will had confronted new people or situations and been stricken with the strangest sensations of déjà vu, like he had seen those people or done those things before. He had eventually learned that these were brought on by tricks of the mind that toyed with your dreams and subconscious. And perhaps that was what applied here. Maybe he _thought _he had thought those thoughts before.

_I think…_he pondered, his own thoughts beginning to confuse him.

"Ahem…" The woman plucked a sharp cord on her guitar. "Earth to tall kid! You fall asleep or somethin'?"

He sheepishly scratched his head and came to. "No, I was just thinking. That's all."

"That's all, eh?" probed the woman, "'All' seemed to be a rather lot to me. Wouldn't you say?"

Will shook his head. "Listen I've had enough existentialism for one day, and-"

"There was more?" wondered the woman.

"It was back at-" Will stopped himself. Although she seemed nice, there was no way Will could yet know whether or not this was an elaborate scheme to rob him, and possibly Bianca if he let her know about his nearby camp, "N-never mind…so, what's your name?"

Cell rolled his eyes. "So solos…" NOW _we're at the name? Shouldn't that have been first._

"Good point, pal," agreed the woman.

"S-solos?" _Y-you can understand me?_

She winked at Cell. Will thought she was referring only to him, and the brief exchange went right over his head. The woman crossed her legs on the stump and explain.

"I've been called a lot of things over the years," she said to Will, picking at four random strings on the guitar, "I have a name, but if no one calls me it anymore, than what's the point of using it, dig? After all, a name is a description of what or who you are and people call you that. Am I right?"

"Existentialism…" growled Will.

"Right," snickered the woman, who Will hoped would soon have a name so he could stop mentally referring to her as 'the woman'. "Well, people who still call me anything nowadays call me Circe. Short, sweet, and to the point, dig?"

"Now was that so hard…" grumbled Will, "Anyway, people who call _me_ anything these days, which is mostly everyone I talk to, call me William Grey. Or just Will for short."

Circe grinned at Will's reversal of her wording. "Looks like we have a smart guy on our hands, eh?"

"I sometimes think so of myself," remarked Will, shrugging.

"Grey…" Circe reclined back on the stump, tapping her chin thoughtfully, "I like that name. Right in the middle. Not black, not white…grey. Neutral. Huh…"

She had been mumbling and Will could barely hear her. "What was that?" he asked, leaning forward a bit.

"Oh, nothing. Just me bein' me. So tell me, Will, what're you out to do?"

"Huh?"

"What are your goals. What do you strive to do in this great big world of ours. Fixin' to be the next big deal in the world of Pokémon Trainers? Lot of opportunities for that."

Will shifted his weight from one foot to the other, thinking (also, he was getting a bit tired from all the standing in one place). "Well, you know, I haven't really-"

_BOOOOM!_

The ground suddenly gave a mighty much, causing Will to stumble left and almost fall into the river. Circe remained firm on the stump.

"What the-" Across the river, on the other side of the screen of trees and brush beyond it rose a cloud of grey dust like smoke from a chimney. The smog was thin though, and quickly began to disperse.

Smiling to herself, Circe began to peacefully strum her guitar again.

Will turned back around, his face a mixture of worry and agitation. "Y-you're not at all worried about this!?"

"Why should I be?" demanded Circe, "After all, it could be one of those opportunities I just mentioned. You never know."

"How could you just…ugh! Never mind! Come on, Cell!"

Forgetting all about Circe for the moment, Will dashed across the shallow stream, he footsteps sloshing through the river. Cell followed closely behind him but eyed Circe suspiciously as they left. What a strange piece of work she had been…

But Will had forgotten about her, and so Cell needed to too. Investigating the mushroom cloud of dust was of paramount importance, and the guitar playing weirdo could wait until later.

As he was hallway across the river, Circe once again began to play her guitar and sing. Will gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in irritation as he trudged across. It almost seemed that she was _trying _to tease him now with her ambiguity.

_"It'll take a lot more than words and guns_

_A whole lot more than riches and muscle_

_The hands of the many must join as one_

_And together we'll cross the river."_

…

"C'mon, you little runt! Stand still!"

The wiry Trainer with the flaming red hair spat in the direction of his adversary. Well, not really his adversary. To be an adversary you had to be physically adverse to the force whom you might refer to as an adversary. Therefore, considering this Purrloin could do nothing to harm the Trainer, it could not be considered an adversary.

More like a target.

A boulder twice the size of the Purrloin itself sat upon the poor creature's tail, effectively pinning it to the ground. For the immoral and potentially deranged man, this would be excellent target practice.

But out of pure scorn for this immoral and potentially deranged man, the Purrloin was not making it easy for him to "practice." Every time he'd pompously order his Pokémon to strike the Purrloin, she would dodge to the best of her ability and make as much of a show out of it as possible. She even hoped against hope that eventually, after pissing the human off enough to the point of his actions becoming wild and irrational, the boulder would become dislodged and she could really show him what's what.

Alas, that had yet to happen. That plan was experiencing a few difficulties, but the whole "get him mad" part was working like a charm.

Though in this instance, it was not good for the poor Purrloin.

"Parrr parrr…" purred the Devious Pokémon, standing erect on two feet and leaning nonchalantly against the rock which held her prisoner. The pressure forcing down on her tail was becoming more unbearable by the second, and with the attacks that kept battering her she knew that the façade would not be sustainable for much longer.

"Tch, don't you go actin' all high and mighty on me!" spurned the Trainer, spittle flying from his mouth.

Purrloin did nothing but shrug and begin to lick her paw. Her once shining purple fur was now coated with mud and in some areas, blood. But she couldn't let that stand. Even when taunting an oafish human, she had to look her best.

Said human snorted. The Purrloin suspected that if the air coming out of his head were any hotter, it would be steam. He looked down angrily at his Pokémon and sent it in to attack once again.

"Boldore, use Headbutt!" he shouted, jabbing a finger at the Purrloin. Now, he'd show that pompous Purrloin who was boss.

"Dor dor!" The tripedal Rock-Type leaned back on its three legs and then launched itself headlong at the Purrloin like a torpedo.

Purrloin cracked an eye open as she groomed herself to face the incoming Boldore. Inwardly she sighed and put down her paw. _Guess I have to deal with this again…_

Just as Boldore came whooshing by, Purrloin leapt atop the rock and the attack missed completely. Boldore landed on shaky legs and skidded a few feet on the muddy riverbank before coming to a halt.

Purrloin looked up at the human and winked. "Par parrrr…" _Better luck next time, red._

A primeval growl escaped the human's throat. Any human or Pokémon in his situation could have exercised a minimally appropriate response to this amount of stress and misdoing and just walked away with their pride intact. A response slightly higher in appropriateness would have been just to remove the rock from atop the tail of the suffering Pokémon and letting it go free. Much less just giving it a fair fight.

But many a creature, and mostly humans at that, often found themselves with a stupid idea in their heads that they themselves thought for some reason was a _good _idea. These creatures, mostly humans, also often were not of the most stable mental or emotional condition and could not mediate that it was, after all, a bad idea.

They also usually had a bad temper. And a pride complex. Both of which this human had.

This Purrloin had, or at least he _thought _it had, made a fool out of him. He thought that it was imperative that the Purrloin not get away with making a Mankey out of him, although it wouldn't have mattered at all in the end. No one would have found out he was bested by a trapped Purrloin but himself, and the Purrloin wouldn't have gone off to brag about it to her friends. She had _far _more important things to talk about.

Nevertheless, this human felt compelled to finish what he started.

"I'm gonna clobber you…" he vowed, cracking his fist.

And that was precisely when William Grey arrived.

"Well then…that doesn't seem like a good thing to do."

A vein twitched on the redhead's neck as he faced the challenger, who had come out of the woods right in front of where Boldore had landed and now stood.

"Oh, another little hero to tell me what to do eh?" the Trainer sneered, "You with those group 'a nobodys that tried to stop me earlier?"

"Someone tried to stop you earlier, eh?"

The Trainer sneered again. "Yeah. As you can see, it didn't work."

Will shrugged. "I suppose if you can't be reasoned with, I might as well just cut right to the chase…" He pulled out his Pokèdex and pointed it at the Trainer's Pokémon, who was a bit confused at the moment for lack of orders from its Trainer. "Not let's see what I'm dealing with here…"

**Boldore, **obliged the Pokèdex at Will's activation, **The Ore Pokémon and the evolved form of Roggenrola. When the energy within a Roggenrola's core becomes unsustainable for the smaller form, the energy leaks out and hardens into a crystal form. This results in magnetic rocks being attracted to the Boldore, resulting in a larger body. Unlike energy-based Pokémon such as Magnemite, Boldore can feed off of unrefined energy and minerals within the ground. If a Boldore expends more energy than it has stored, then its body will shut down until more energy finds its way into the core. In battle, Boldore can unleash their stored up energy in massive bursts, but tire quickly because of this. This Boldore is of an unspecified gender and is an estimated six years of age. It possesses the ability Sturdy and can use the moves Headbutt, Rock Blast, Iron Defense and Power Gem.**

Will silently cursed to himself as he slid the Pokèdex back into his pocket. Boldore was a pure Rock-Type and Rocket would have been of integral use in combatting it. He couldn't be blamed of course, since he had only woken up in the first place to investigate Circe, but his negligence still ate at him.

"Yo!" shouted the redhead, interrupting Will's thought process, "That was a fancy lil' gizmo ya got there. You right pissed me off now, but I'll tell ya what: you hand it over to me and I'll forget I ever saw ya. Capiche?"

_This is literally my first day with the thing. I'm not even gonna _think _about letting it leave my sight! _"You've got a lot of nerve beating up on this poor Purrloin and then telling me to essentially mug myself for you when I come to help," seethed Will, he hands clenching into fists. "We can both walk away from this without either getting hurt, or it can get ugly."

Will silently prayed that it did not have to get ugly. Unfortunately for him, the particular Trainer that he faced off against _loved _when things got ugly.

He let out an amused guffaw. The skinny kid across the river's pitiful delusions of grandeur were making for some class-A entertainment. "Listen pal, I've got ninety-nine problems and you sure ain't one. You probably think I'm stupid-"

"Definitely do, but carry on," quipped Will.

"-_but!_" said the other Trainer, forcefully. He hadn't yet decided to hurt the scrawny little runt in blue, but he was beginning to lean that way, "_But…_I know what that thing is. It's one 'a them Pokey-Dexes, ain't it? Which means you're a new Trainer." He proudly thumped a fist against his chest. He jammed his other hand into a grubby pocket and pulled out a badge case with its top missing. "Me? I've got four badges. I'm halfway to the Unova League Conference and you're halfway to Accumula Town! What's that tell ya, kid?"

"That…I'm making good time?" A wry grin broke out on Will's face. Even Purrloin giggled at that one.

Redhead's nostrils flared. "That does it!" he shouted, clenching the badge case so intensely that it nearly cracked. "Looks like you ain't very street smart, kid! Don't you know that runnin' your mouth to someone better than ya on the streets ain't a good idea?"

"No," Will said calmly, shrugging, "But I'll tell you what I _do _know what to do in situations like these."

"Oh yeah?"

"Confusion!" he shouted out of the blue, pointing at Redhead.

Who, in actuality, was confused. "I mean, I guess so but-BWAH!"

He was suddenly and unexpectedly blasted off of his feet by a wave of telekinetic energy. Redhead landed back-first in the shallow brook, his shirt and posterior becoming thoroughly soaked. His grip on the badge case faltered and he heard it skitter off of a rock and then plop into the brook.

"Good work, buddy," said Will to Cell as the shimmering glow faded from his companion. Redhead may have been right about one thing; perhaps Will wasn't as street smart as he could be or should be. But he sure was book smart where it counted.

And while he liked to deviate from the books whenever he could, there was one lesson he always liked to keep in mind whilst in shady situations: always strike first.

So far it had served him well. It seemed fitting that a simple-minded person would have a simple-minded Pokémon serving by his side. Boldore was rendered completely helpless and confused at the sudden silencing of his master.

"D-dor?" he stammered, skittering in rotation towards the river. An attack had been thrown. Master should have yelled at him to strike back by now. That was how battles worked, right?

Unfortunately this did not mean that Will ended the battle before it began. Even with his temporary advantage, Will was stuck. He had to free Purrloin and make sure that Redhead nor Boldore were able to hurt it anymore. But he couldn't allow Redhead to get back up and hurt Purrloin or order Boldore to hurt Purrloin. But he also couldn't allow Boldore to stay in the fight to accept commands from Redhead to hurt Purrloin.

Three options on the table before him. And at best he could only tackle two.

_Why didn't I take the bus? _Will bemoaned as he made up his mind.

"Cell, free Purrloin!" he shouted, bending down and picking up a smooth ovular stone, "I'll deal with Boldore!"

"So so lo!" Cell nodded and shot towards Purrloin. He clearly saw that Will lacked a clear-cut plan, but debate time was a scarce luxury. Boldore was clearly much stronger than Cell and would bring vast amounts of pain if blithely ignored, but Will apparently had a countermeasure for that.

That countermeasure was a rock. Something debatably not worthy of such a fancy word to describe it.

Bringing back his arm as far as he could, Will hurled the stone at Boldore with all of his might. He felt a small twinge in his shoulder muscles but bore it; he hadn't thrown anything that hard since before he had quit baseball in the third grade.

_CLONK!_

The rock bounced right off of Boldore's rocky body and did no physical damage. In fact it seemed that all the rock did was aggravate Boldore.

In that case, all according to plan.

Redhead was still dazed in the river, recovering from Cell's attack. He would soon be getting up Will suspected, but was not an immediate threat as Boldore was. Will had thusly dubbed Boldore as the most immediate threat and decided to take it.

"Dor!" Boldore angrily swiveled towards Will and stabbed the ground with one of its legs. "Boldore dor!" It skittered towards him with a surprising quickness, much like an arachnid Pokémon would move.

A shiver went down Will's spine; he had never been very fond of such Pokémon. Ever since a one of his fifth grade class pets, a Joltik, had hidden inside his coat one day and remained there until he put it on, Will had gotten the willies when watching Pokémon move like that.

It was the legs. They just plain creeped him out!

For now though, he'd have to take his older sister's usual advice in situations like these: _"Suck it up, Buttercup!"_

So Will did the valiant thing that any brave man or woman would do in this situation. He turned and ran.

"Hey, stupid!" he cried over his shoulder, trying to bait Boldore away from Cell and the Purrloin, "Your mother's a mountain!"

"DOR!" Boldore hunkered down and sped after the mouthy human. How dare he call his mother a mountain! His mother was a Klinklang!

Legs pumping, Will made for the patch of forest from where he had emerged. He was confident that he'd be able to lose Boldore, a lumbering subterranean Pokémon, in the lush forest and then loop around to extract Cell and Purrloin. Odds were that Redhead, a holder of four badges, had more than one Pokémon and wasn't going to be very accommodating of letting Cell and Purrloin go.

It was a very good thing that Will was thinking things through at that level. Being meticulous lowered the likelihood that things would go wrong after all.

Unfortunately, Will was only _thinking _about being meticulous. He wasn't actually doing it.

For as he thought ahead to what he would be doing later, he forgot to think about what he was doing then. At that moment, he was running. And if he had acknowledged that instead of thinking he might have avoided the root that tripped him.

His right foot hooked under the horseshoe shaped root as he pulled it up mid-run, causing him to fall face first into the ground. Will rolled over in a panic and desperately tried to loose himself. Boldore's furious footsteps were growing closer by the second.

And that fateful second approached much faster than Will could have hoped for. Boldore crested the small hill and was now a mere ten feet from Will, who tugged frantically at the root.

"Boooool-DOR!" Boldore lowered itself down and launched into the air, for a second eclipsing the morning sun. Gasping, Will shielded his head as Boldore began to descend in with its Headbutt attack. As if it would help.

"Oooo-shawa!"

_WHABAM!_

Will peeked his eyes open just as the ground around him was shaken by a loud thud. Slightly to his left, Boldore lie half lodged in the ground. His right foreleg twitched in pain and he appeared otherwise incapacitated.

He then felt the tightness around his ankle suddenly loosen. Will looked ahead of him and couldn't help but smile as Rocket, smiling pack, placed his scalchop back on his belly.

"Osha osha!" he excitedly chittered. _Did you see what I just did!?_

Will rapped the Sea Otter Pokémon in a tight hug. "I knew you had my back, buddy! I hope you know that I completely regret not choosing you from the start."

"Osh, shawa…" Rocket dismissively waved a paw at Will. _Oh, stop…_

"But seriously, how did you know where to find me?"

"Ahem!"

Sighing, Will shook his head. "Honestly, I can't believe I didn't see that one coming."

"That's right!" declared Bianca from her heroic perch atop the mossy log, "Bianca and friends, to the rescue!"

* * *

**Who is this "Circe" person? Why does she appear in Will's dreams? And what significance do her songs hold? Stay tuned to find out!**

**A thousand and one apologies for not being able to update on time yesterday! As some of you may have known, this weekend is both very busy and very important for me. Though once this is all over, I'll have much more time to write and edit, perhaps even update some of my other stories. This chapter was edited more hastily than I would have hoped to do so, but for what it's worth I plan on coming back through and picking it apart with a fine toothed comb. **

**Wish me luck for tonight and tomorrow!**

**So stay tuned for next week's (on time) chapter: ****_Chapter 8: Boulder Than Before_**

**BTW, I'd like to add to those of you who (like me) may have been distressed at this, but the "Copy/Paste" function of the FF Document Manager has been restored to it's original form. Since don't create a new document for each chapter of a fic and keep most stories in their entirety in one Word document, a workaround was possible but troublesome to achieve, and so I'm glad this works again and hope you all who write have an easier time as well. So a big "Thank-you!" to the FF tech team!**

**Let's cut right to the chase, shall we? Reader Question this time is a bit more imaginative than others: What real-world movie could you think of being produced in the Pokemon world as a "parody" of sorts for the universe? Examples could be Aron Man, Captain Unova, Zubat Man, Omastar Wars, and my personal favorite (and actually used in the anime. Props to Nintendo for thinking of this one) Dirty Herdier.**

**Herdier Callahan: "I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking "did he use six Pokemon or only five?" Now to tell you the truth I forgot myself in all this excitement. But being this is a Master Ball, the most powerful Pokeball in the world and will blow your health clean off, you've gotta ask yourself a question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?**

**XD Well, that about does it. Review, and see ya next week!**


	9. Chapter 8: Boulder Than Before

**The tenet of "guilty by association" never made sense to me. I never could grasp the concept of immediately judging another based on the company they seem to keep. You don't know their story. Their feelings and their emotions. How they got into the situation at hand. Nor the person or people at fault. A rotten apple does not always mean a rotten tree. This concept continues to this very day to baffle me as to how a thinking, feeling human being woke up one morning and decided upon such a thing being just. Then again, if everyone was my definition of a "thinking, feeling human being" then circumstances leading up to my birth may not have occurred and you would not have spent your money on my book. Thanks for that, by the way. Unless you're reading this in school or in a library. If so, kudos to you. At least someone paid for it. If you stole this book, I'd just like you to know that you're a despicable person. But I don not think of you that way because of your associations, just to be clear. I'm doing it because you stole my book, jerk.**

**-Excerpt from ****_The Hero of Unova, _****a biography by Lucina Hale-Grey**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Boulder Than Before**

That particular day that had become the setting for William Grey's first official day as a Pokémon Trainer (second or even third if you counted the other stuff) had not been kind in many ways to the beginning Trainer. But for the matter of fact and not much else, it had also not been very kind to the more experienced Trainer known as Darren Drew, the Trainer otherwise and previously known unaffectionately as "Redhead."

Redhead, as he shall continue to be named until a revelation is made, was not having a spectacular day. Up to that point it had been quite average for him in fact. Being banned from every Pokémon Center in the region for several minor crimes and misdemeanors, he found that it was better for him to prowl around towns rather than prowl about them to avoid unnecessary attention from the police, for many men and women in uniform recognized him.

Of course he still stopped by towns and cities to compete in the Unova League and the occasional tournament or League Tourney. A Trainer like him had a reputation to uphold. But Redhead found his favorite activities to be frowned upon by society (and sometimes the law).

So he usually hung around less populated areas such as the outskirts of town and in Routes, where he would most likely go unnoticed, along with the crowd of "friends" he sometimes brought with him.

The group included and was not limited to thieves, pickpockets, muggers, extortionists and overall criminals. Coincidentally, some of Redhead's favorite activities included thieving, pickpocketing, mugging and overall criminal activity.

And on that particular day, using a defenseless Purrloin for target practice. Which happened to have crossed his path with that of the fledgling Trainer known as William Grey.

Had he simply picked a separate location or begun his despicable training session at a later time, he could have prevented the unfolding of events in such a way that would result in him getting hit in the face by something hard and metal.

But more on that later.

At the moment, or rather a few moments prior, he had been hit in the face by something hot and intangible. If the pins-and-needles sensation you got when a limb fell asleep was multiplied by twenty, coupled with the force of a small car accelerating to the speed of light was weaponized, taking a Psywave attack would be comparable to that feeling.

Dazed and confused, Redhead's right hand rapidly and shakily sloshed through the water like that of a blind man as he searched for his Pokèballs. He had felt them detach from his belt when he had splashed into the river. His eyes were no good at the minute anyway, seeing as his vision was that of a bespectacled youngster on a merry-go-round.

"Mwuuuuh…" he moaned, his tongue numb and tasting of copper, "Muhm gthonna khel th-that kthid…"

A person in his position of laying incoherently in a small brook may not have credibly been able to make those threats, and his physical prowess over both Will and Bianca was truly neutralized by his handicap.

But that did not apply to his Pokémon. So when he finally wrapped a soaking hand over the chilly surface of the submerged Ultra Ball, his threats became a reality.

His meaty forefinger jammed the Pokèball's center button with furious force, and the capsule sprung open. In a flash, Redhead was no longer the only bulky and intimidating being in the water.

The two key differences between the two being that one was a Pokémon, and it was also not near unconscious.

It was a midsized bipedal covered in puffy pink veins, two of which were much thicker than the rest and formed rings around his shoulders like thick coils of rope. It was covered in a short and coarse layer of grew fur that grew much puffier atop its head and forming an impressive afro, though not nearly impressive as that of a Bouffalant. Protruding from its face was a round maroon nose not too unlike a clown's.

Despite this last circus-esque feature, this new Pokémon was all business. Its bulging muscles and the steel beam it hefted above its head proved this.

"Dur," it honked, turning towards its Trainer for orders. It was shocked to find its commander lying defeated in the brook, belly up like a broken Magikarp. Flustered, it turned quickly towards Cell and the trapped Purrloin. Its gears were spinning, but the Pokémon just couldn't seem to put two and two together. It simply could not comprehend the reality of the fact that the Boss had been sent flat on his whatsis by a green basketball and a household kitty.

"Gurdurr, ghet em…" moaned Redhead, weakly raising an arm to point at Cell and the Purrloin before it flopped back into the water with a pathetic splash.

Gurdurr immediately flew into a blind rage. Anything the Boss told him was worth smashing was to be smashed and that was that. Gurdurr knew not why he ever smashed a lot of the things that the Boss told him to smash.

But that was still enough for Gurdurr. The Boss was the one who told him and the other Pokémon what to do. That meant he must have known what he was talking about.

The steel pillar dropped into the crook of Gurdurr's arm and he cradled it like a baseball bat. Lowering his head, Gurdurr charged like a football player towards his targets with no particular plan in mind other than "smash."

Cell noticed the sudden slab of grey meat with a side of steel approaching and panicked. Gurdurr was big and tough but he was slow, and Cell had more time than he would initially assume, but he panicked nonetheless.

"So solo los!" he barked at the Pokémon he was attempting to flee, floating urgently closer to its head. _Do you think you could help me out a little here?_

Purrloin rolled her eyes at the hapless rescuer and nonchalantly began to lick her paw. "Parrr…" she mewed in between strokes of the tongue. _I thought you were working on that with those fancy moves of yours._

Cell's eyes flared in anger. _You little ingrate! That attack took a lot out of me, you know! I'm trying to help you!_

"Parrr par…" _Well, I didn't ask you to knock that human down, nor did I ask you to help me. If I had to pick a preferred favor I would have picked this one, but it seems you're a bit incapable of either…_

"So solo!" That was the last straw for Cell. He lifted himself higher in the air so that he could get a better angle of glaring down at Purrloin. _I'm not wasting my Trainer's diversion! _

"Parrr…" purred the Purrloin, stretching out on the ground. _See, _that's _the only thing you seem to be doing a good job at…_

"SO-"

_DOOOOOOOONG!_

Cell felt a sudden breeze to his side and just briefly caught the blur of red whizzing by his body. This was accompanied soon after by a thud and the sound of crumbling.

Amidst his heated argument with Purrloin, Cell had been distracted completely from the charging Gurdurr. Luckily for him, Gurdurr were renowned for their aim as much as Trubbish were renowned for their pleasant smells.

Cell had naturally been Gurdurr's first target since he was in plain few. Creatures with plain minds often acted in plain ways. But its aforementioned off-par targeting capabilities resulted in its missing of Cell by nearly half a meter.

Gurdurr knew he had made contact with something, however, which made it happy. Smashing had been ordered and smashing had been carried out. What he did _not _know was that the Boss would _not _be happy about what he had hit.

With strength that a beaten Pokémon had no business possessing, Purrloin leapt away from the gravel that had once entrapped it and landed a good two yards from Gurdurr and Cell, hunkered down in a crouched position. It's grin was that of both a predator and a tricky mind.

Gurdurr was far too slow to understand of course, but Cell put together the pieces quickly. He moved quickly back to anger.

"S-so solos!" he squeaked, trying to hide his embarrassment but not his frustration. _You used me as bait! Why didn't you tell me I was bait!?_

"Parr parrr." _Well, if I had, you wouldn't have stood nice and still, now would you?_

"Solos!" _Why you little-_

Without another word, the Purrloin turned and scampered away, stopping only once it was at the edge of the treeline. It winked at Cell.

"Par parrrr," she said, giving her paw one last victory lick. _Thanks for the help, Blobby, but I've got an appointment with Somewhere Other Than Here. Toodles!_

Turning in one fluid motion, Purrloin hunkered down further to leap away, but faltered once she place weight on her hind legs and let out a sharp mew of pain. Cell looked closer and noticed her weak stance, as well as his misshapen tail. Her tail had been crushed by the weight of the boulder, and her muscles were sore from the ours of sitting still and being tugged on.

Cell nearly drifted forth to help her, quickly remembering that she had betrayed him and stopping. Will would have opposed his holding back on charity towards a Pokémon in need. But then again, Cell knew for a fact that if another human had betrayed Will, then Will too would hesitate.

It may have taken him longer to deliberate, but it then hit Cell. Hard on the head.

The momentary hesitation had given Gurdurr just enough time to yank his beam out of the soil, in which it had been firmly implanted. Had Will been present, the Trainer might have been beset by how a Fighting-Type attack had knocked Cell out in just one hit, but would have then figured out the vast level gap between Cell and Gurdurr.

Most likely in the form of taunting from Redhead.

Cell dropped to the ground, unconscious. His predicament earned not even a backwards glance from Purrloin as she recovered from her slip and hopped straight into the brush and out of danger. She would be having none of that.

"Dur dur durrr!" chortled the Muscular Pokémon as he stood over his victim and bounced his steel beam atop his shoulder with glee. The Boss would be very pleased with his work.

Speaking of which, a series of trickles and splashes reached the ears of Gurdurr from behind and he immediately swiveled around. The Boss, looking significantly less disheveled but still dazed, was rising from the brook. His wet shirt hugged his admirably muscular frame and his long red hair hung in a clump at the back of his neck.

Slowly he began to stagger towards the unconscious Solosis, his normally dull eyes sparkling now with malice and contempt. Which did not help with the fact that he still couldn't see straight.

Gurdurr stepped respectfully to the side and picked up a sudden interest in the mud as the Boss walked by. The Boss never liked it when him or the other Pokémon looked him in the eyes.

Growling, Redhead reached down and grabbed Cell like a bowling ball, his meaty hands curling and sinking his fingers into Cell's semipermeable shell.

"Nobody…makes a Mankey outta me," he hissed to the comatose Pokémon. "Nobody…"

His heavy boots sank deep into the mud as he tromped through the soggy peat and earth of the riverbank. No more than five yards to his left was a set of tracks set in the mud, two to be precise. One belonged to a sneakered human who seemed to be rather light on his feet, and the others were triangular indents that came in threes. Clearly, Boldore had chased the runt in that direction.

Redhead sincerely hoped Boldore left the kid at least a bit coherent. Because he wanted the kid to hear his own jaw crack when Gurdurr's beam detached it from his face.

And whilst hiding in the bushes at a safe distance, still present but out of harm's way, Purrloin sincerely hoped that the redheaded Trainer did not return.

Deep down and insincerely though, she wished that there was something she could have done.

…

Little did anyone notice, a small coalition of humans nearby was busy departing their own course of action. The three had remained eerily silent the whole time as they watched the situation unfold from Will's arrival to the departure of a livid Darren Drew. Yet unlike other onlookers, they had not yet selfishly made up their minds and decided to remain neutral.

That much remained to be seen.

"We should really step in," suggested one of them, a male leaned up against a tree, in a low voice, "Drew isn't going to be gentle with that poor kid.

Another one, this time a woman, shook her head. "Preposterous. We did what we came here for."

"We came here to stick it to Drew," the man gruffly asserted, tapping the three Pokèballs strapped to his belt.

"We came here to free the Purrloin," corrected the woman in an acid tone, finger pointed to the rubble that had once been a small boulder. "Guess what? It's free. So now we can go. We'll get a demerit if we dilly-dally. Besides, I don't want to be late for the-"

The man straightened up. "We won't miss the speech."

"That's not the point, Walt! We-"

Walt shushed her, waving his hands rapidly in a downward motion. He peeked tentatively around the tree to see if anyone had heard them. The clearing remained empty and occupied only by the gentle sound of the brook's babbling water chatting with the forest breeze. Content, he straightened back up.

"Saving Purrloin was our assignment. You're more than right on that one, Lex. That may have been our _assignment_, but what's our _mission?_"

Lex sighed, knowing she had once again let Walter checkmate her with his loopholes. "'Our mission is of the highest order, the holiest mandate'" she recited blandly, "'We, the chosen few-'"

"'-have set out to protect and set free Pokémon-kind from the sins of Man,'" finished Walter. "That's the Oath, Lex. I swore it. You swore it. Octavia swore it. We all did. We came here to protect Purrloin but at the moment, it ain't the only Pokémon that needs protecting. Drew didn't look like he was planning on taking that Solosis out for ice cream, and I bet you a hundred dollars that if that kid has any more Pokémon, they'll be in for the same 'treat.'"

Arms folded, Lex tapped her elbows whilst deliberating furiously. On one hand, her superiors would be miffed if the three of them returned from their mission late. _Especially_ if they missed the event that was scheduled for later that day. On the other hand, the brass would be furious if they found out a Pokémon had been harmed whilst Lex and her companions had the knowledge and proximity to prevent it.

Lex let out a defeated puff of air and let her arms swing down to her sides. "Fine, fine, whatever. I'll go warn that kid of Drew, and-"

"Uh-uh," interjected Walt, "You're in a rush, so you're going to do it sloppily. I know you, Lexie. You want to get back to base ASAP and give White the ol' 'Mission Done'."

She shrugged. Walter wasn't wrong.

"So? What's your point?"

"You and I go lead Drew off of the trail," he suggested, standing up straight and brushing the wet bark off of his palms, "He's dangerous, so I don't think Octavia should be foolin' around with him. Plus she's much lighter on her feet than either of us. She'd be better off warning the kid." Walter turned around completely to where the third member of their party had been huddling silently for the duration of their stay. "Whaddya say, Tavi? Up for it?"

"I-I guess…" mumbled the timid girl, twirling a strand of her honey blond hair around a finger.

Octavia was never the talkative type. This was a fact that Walter and anyone else who knew her could easily discern from spending five minutes with her. Initially she had suspected that Octavia joined their group for the same reason many others had: to find a place where she could belong. Walter very quickly found out that Octavia didn't see the organization as a social club; far from it. Whether or not she joined because she believed in their tenets or that she was just in it for the thrills remained to be seen.

Walt clapped his hands together. "Alright then, team. Let's get a move-on."

"Whatever," grumbled Lex, unclipping a Pokèball from her belt and following Walt into the brush.

Seeing her two companions depart from her company, Octavia initially tensed as she came to the realization that she was now alone. Noticing this, Walt tossed a smile over his shoulder at the younger girl. "Hey, Octavia?"

"Y-yeah…?"

"You'll be fine. I believe in you, kiddo. Good luck."

"Good-d luck. L-long live the King."

He nodded. "Long live King. Now get to that kid. I think he could really use some help right about now."

* * *

**I'm baaaaaack! As the C-Sec officer at the main gate of the Citadel in Mass Effect 2 would say: "Sorry for the inconvenience, sir." **

**Or madam.**

**The reason I was absent was because of some complications in my schedule, most of which have now cleared up! Many of my obligations are no longer a concern for the foreseeable future, meaning that I have much more time to write and get this story back on track! One of the reasons this chapter was shorter was the others, which I promise wont be the norm, was because I have to just kinda get my notes (and my schedule) back in order. So I promise that this story's schedule will get back on track, but I do still have a life outside of FF, so other delays cannot be completely ruled out.**

**Also, I decided to change the chapter title from what I said it would be due to a pun from Cm25. So you can thank him for that one XD**

**But in the event you are without anything to read due to a delay of this story or maybe another, or that you're bored or in between chapters or whatever you will, I've decided to start a Community on FF that features awesome OC driven Pokemon fics! It's called "Awesome OC Driven Pokemon Fics!" I've read a lot of different types of Fanfictions, mainly Pokemon of course, but I find that my favorites are those where a character created by the author is put in the driver's seat of stories we already know, or perhaps new ones. So go check out the Community; the stories I've added there so far are some of my favorites! If you have any suggestions of fics you like and think should be added, send me a PM and I'll take a look! **

**Now back to Excelsior business! What will become of the now free Purrloin? What will happen to Cell? And who are the mysterious trio setting out to save Will? All this and more next time on:**

_**Chapter 9: Without a Trace**_

**Hm, yeah, there seems to be some minor game announced by Nintendo. No big deal or anything, it's just HOENN CONFIRMED! No joke this time, fellas: Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby have been confirmed for a November release. The fandom is ablaze as of late with this news, and for people like me who-even though Hoenn wasn't exactly my favorite region-got into Pokemon around this time, this is a welcome walk down memory lane. So, the Reader Question is quite simply: What are your thoughts? Are you happy? Disappointed? Elated beyond words?**

**Sorry for the wordy A/N. I seem to do those a lot after some missed time...yeah, I'm generally a very wordy person XD **

**Please leave a review if ya can. Nothing motivates me to improve this story more than a few reviews in my inbox :) I promise I'll never be one of those authors who wont update until they get a lot of reviews, but they sure do help the story out and I appreciate every one! So drop one and I'll see you next week (for sure)!**


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